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SCHOOLING OF THE 
IMMIGRANT 



Americanization Studies 



Schooling of the Immigrant 

Frank V. Thompson, Supt. of Public Schools, Boston 
America via the Neighborhood. (In press) 

John Daniels 
Old World Traits Transplanted. (In press) 

Robert E. Park, Professorial Lecturer, University of Chicago 

Herbert A. Miller, Professor of Sociology, Oberlin College 
Immigrant Health and the Community. (In preparation) 

Michael M. Davis, Jr., Director, Boston Dispensary 
A Stake in the Land. (In preparation) 

Peter A. Speek, Head of Russian Section, Library of Congress 
New Homes for Old. (In preparation) 

S. P. Breckinridge, Assistant Professor of Household Ad- 
ministration, University of Chicago 
Adjusting Immigrant and Industry. (In preparation) 

William M. Leiserson, Chairman, Labor Adjustment Boards, 

Rochester and New York 
The Immigrant Press and Its Control. (In preparation) 

Robert E. Park, Professorial Lecturer, University of Chicago 
The Immigrant's Day in Court. (In preparation) 

Kate Holladay Claghorn, Instructor in Social Research, 

New York School of Social Work 
Americans by Choice. (In preparation) 

John P. Gavit, Vice-President, New York Evening Post 
Summary. (In preparation) 

Allen T. Burns, Director, Studies in Methods of American- 
ization 

Harper & Brothers Publishers 



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Tuenovee in Immigrant Education Within One School Year 
(See Chap. Ill) 



AMERICANIZATION STUDIES 
ALLEN T. BURNS, DIRECTOR 

SCHOOLING OF 
THE IMMIGRANT 



BY 

FRANK V. THOMPSON 

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 




HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1920 



o 

T 






Schooling of the Immigrant 

Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers 

Printed in the United States of America 

Published October, 1920 



E 

©CI.A597809 



?s 



PUBLISHER'S NOTE 

Americanization in these studies has been con- 
sidered as the union of native and foreign born 
in all the most fundamental relationships and 
activities of our national life. For Americaniza- 
tion is the uniting of new with native-born Ameri- 
cans in fuller common understanding and ap- 
preciation to secure by means of individual and 
collective self -direction the highest welfare of all. 
Such Americanization should perpetuate no un- 
changeable political, domestic, and economic 
regime delivered once for all to the fathers, but 
a growing and broadening national life, inclu- 
sive of the best wherever found. With all 
our rich heritages, Americanism will develop 
best through a mutual giving and taking of 
contributions from both newer and older Ameri- 
cans in the interest of the commonweal. These 
studies have followed such an understanding of 
Americanization. 



FOREWORD 

This volume is the result of studies in methods 
of Americanization prepared through funds fur- 
nished by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. 
It arose out of the fact that constant applications 
were being made to the Corporation for contribu- 
tions to the work of numerous agencies engaged 
in various forms of social activity intended to 
extend among the people of the United States, 
the knowledge of their government and their 
obligations to it. The trustees felt that a study 
which should set forth, not theories of social 
betterment, but a description of the methods of 
the various agencies engaged in such work, would 
be of distinct value to the cause itself and to the 
public. 

The outcome of the study is contained in eleven 
volumes on the following subjects: Schooling of 
the Immigrant; The Press; Adjustment of 
Homes and Family Life; Legal Protection and 
Correction; Health Standards and Care; Natu- 
ralization and Political Life; Industrial and Eco- 
nomic Amalgamation; Treatment of Immigrant 
Heritages; Neighborhood Agencies and Organi- 
zation; Rural Developments; and Summary. 
The entire study has been carried out under the 
general direction of Mr. Allen T. Burns. Each 



FOREWORD 

volume appears in the name of the author who 
had immediate charge of the particular field it 
is intended to cover. 

Upon the invitation of the Carnegie Corpora- 
tion a committee consisting of the late Theodore 
Roosevelt, Prof. John Graham Brooks, Dr. John 
M. Glenn, and Mr. John A. Voll has acted in 
an advisory capacity to the director. An edi- 
torial committee consisting of Dr. Talcott Will- 
iams, Dr. Raymond B. Fosdick, and Dr. Edwin 
F. Gay has read and criticized the manu- 
scripts. To both of these committees the 
trustees of the Carnegie Corporation are much 
indebted. 

The purpose of the report is to give as clear 
a notion as possible of the methods of the agen- 
cies actually at work in this field and not to 
propose theories for dealing with the complicated 
questions involved. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Publisher's Note vii 

Foreword ix 

Table of Contents xi 

List of Diagrams xv 

List of Maps xvi 

List of Tables xvii 

Introduction xix 

CHAPTER 

I. The School and Nationalization 1 

Need of a Common Language 2 

European Attempts 7 

Progress in America 8 

Compulsion or Persuasion 11 

Citizenship Training 15 

Comparison with Other Countries _ 17 

A Federal Function 21 

Democracy Uses Its Schools 24 

II. Problems and Policies 26 

The Stream of Immigration 27 

Adult Attendance Negligible 32 ^ 

Provision Inadequate 34 "^ 

Need for Co-ordination 40 

Efforts of the Bureau of Education 42 *" 

Province of the Bureau of Naturalization 46 

Growth of State Bureaus 48 

Variation in Community Programs 51 

Policy of Factory Classes 55 

The Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. 57 

A Small Fraction Reached 59 

Extent of Illiteracy in English 62 

Limitations of Evening Schools 66*~- 

The Day School for Immigrants 69"^*"" 

-~- Immigrant Children Handicapped 72 

The Argument for Public Provision 74 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

III. Public-school Administration 77 

Present Facilities Inadequate 78 

Moderate Funds Sufficient 89 

Five Cities Start, Three Stop 90 

Ten Classes Start, Nine Stop 92 

Large Turnover in Attendance 94 

Causes for Leaving 96 

Social Supplements 98 

Public Control of Factory Classes 99 

Working with Immigrant Societies 107 

Connecting Home and School 109 

Day School, Center of System 112 

Citizenship Training for Children 117 

The Lawrence Plan 119 

Leadership in a New World 122 

IV. Private Schools and Public Responsibility 125 

Increase of Enrollment 125 

Citizenship Guaranties Required 129 

Regulation Through Regents' Examination 131 

Statute Without Enforcement 132 

Indorsement of Franco-American Congress 135 

Voluntary Co-operation in New Hampshire 137 

Middle- West Developments 145 

Credit Due Parochial Schools 151 

Extremes of Opinion 154 

Supervision, the Right of the State 158 

Weight of Authority 159 

The Challenge for Unity 162 

V. Methods op Teaching English 164 



Exchange of Thought, the Aim 


165 


Emphasize Speaking and Reading 


168 


Subject Matter from Life 


171 


Develop a Speaking Vocabulary 


172 


Limited Need for Writing 


174 


Spell Few Words Well 


177 


Phonics Overemphasized 


179 


Provide Interesting Reading 


184 


Variety of Teaching Methods 


186 


Direct and Indirect Methods 


188 


Fallacy of Synthetic Methods 


191 


Analytic Methods Sound 


198 



VI. 



VII. 



VIII. 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Application by Gouin 199 

Danger of Dogma in Methods 203 

Analytic-Synthetic Methods 208 

Principles, Not Prescriptions 210 



Measuring Progress in English 


214 


Scope and Aim of Tests 


215 


Standards for Grading Pupils 


217 


Defects in Present Grading 


219 


Quality of Instruction 


224 


Tests as Aid in Supervision 


230 


Effect of Teacher Training 


231 


Comparing Teaching Methods 


234 


Selecting Subject Matter 


235 


Usefulness of Tests 


238 


Educational Service Stations 


239 


Conventional Teaching Dogmatic 


240 


Partnership, the Basis of Teaching 


241 


The "Unit Task" 


244 


Service or Academic Instruction? 


248 


Providing for Individual Differences 


252 


Suggested Experiments 


256 


Demand of the New Times 


260 


The Training of Teachers 


262 


Knowledge of Aims Necessary 


264 


Training Attempted by Many Agencies 


264 


Summer Courses in 1919 


269 


Courses Superficial and Inadequate 


272 


Importance of Racial Backgrounds 


274 


Co-ordination of Training Agencies 


275 


Outline of a Course 


277 



IX. Trend of Legislation 282 

Slow Spread of Compulsory Attendance 282 

War Impetus to Civic Education 284 

English the Language of Instruction 288 

Coercion Carried to Extreme 289 

Contrast of New Hampshire and Nebraska 292 

Rights of Private Education 297 

Compulsion for the Illiterate Minor 302 

Provision Beyond Twenty-one "^309 



CONTENTS 

PTER PAGE 

State Laws for Night Schools 811 

The South Awakened to Illiteracy 315 

States' Share in the Cost 816 

Prospects in America 323 

Require Schools Before Attendance 325 

X. Schooling in Citizenship 327 

Vital vs. Legalistic Civics 329 

Growth of Adult Training Facilities 332 
Sixty-two Varieties of Citizenship Requirements 335 
Educational Leadership of Naturalization Bureau 339 

Classes for Profit 342 

School Certificate vs. Court Examination 343 

Good and Bad Textbooks 345 

The Government's Textbook 347 

Summary of the Problem 350 

A Ninety Days' Training Limit 352 

Citizenship vs. Civics 356 

Practice in Citizenship 358 

XI. Summary 863 

The Task Is Never Done 363 

Assumption of Superiority 365 

Union of Equals 367 

Education, Democracy's Best Tool 371 

Administrative Unity 372 

Teachers and Methods 376 

Legislation Becoming Adequate 382 

Responsibility of All 884 



LIST OF DIAGRAMS 



Turnover in immigrant education within one school 
year Frontispiece 

1. Concentration of foreign-born population in ten states 28 

2. Organization plan for Americanization work of the Boston 

Chamber of Commerce 39 

3. Increase in number of cities with over 1,000 foreign born 

reporting public school provision for foreign born, 
1914-15 to 1918-19 81 

4. Percentages of five classes of cities reporting public school 

provision for foreign born, 1918-19 85 

5. Public school provision for foreign born reported in 

1918-19, by 15 classes of cities 87 

6. Standard scores by grades in tests of immigrant classes 

in New York and Boston 218 

7. Comparisons of New York second-grade class scores with 

standard scores 221 

8. Distribution of individual scores in spelling with reference 

to grade limits 223 

9. Turnover in attendance between first and second tests 226 

10. Proportion of Boston pupils staying and leaving divided 

according to ability 228 

11. Variation in individual pupil's gain in spelling ability 

in New York 229 

12. Distribution of spelling errors in composition test for 

each set of words in Ayres spelling scale 236 



LIST OF MAPS 

MAP PAGE 

1. Per cent of illiteracy in each state in 1910 for — A. For- 

eign-born white population; B. Total population 65 

2. Per cent of total places with over 1,000 foreign born 

reporting public school provision in each state in 
1918-19 83 

3. Per cent of children of school age attending parochial 

schools in Wisconsin by counties 146 

4. Places having over 1,000 foreign born in 1910 reporting 

public classes in 1918-19 in Massachusetts 304 

5. Places having over 1,000 foreign born in 1910 reporting 

public classes in 1918-19 in Pennsylvania 305 



LIST OF TABLES 



Public agencies promoting the education of the 
immigrant Facing page 40 

I. Public school provision for foreign born in 1914-15 

and 1918-19 80 

II. Public school provision in 1918-19, by classes of 

places 84 

III. Public school provision in 1914-15, 1917-18, and 

1918-19 91 

IV. Public classes reported in 1917-18 and 1918-19 92 
V. Increase and decrease in numbers of classes 93 

VI. Children in public schools and in Catholic schools 

in four periods 126 

VII. Distribution by nationality of parochial schools in 

Massachusetts 128 

VIII. Attendance of foreign-born adults in an evening 

high school 250 

IX. Standard scores by grades in tests of immigrant 

classes in New York and Boston 391 

X. Comparison of class scores with standard scores 

and grade limits 392 

XI. Range of individual ability in selected classes 

scoring within grade limits 393 

XII. Attendance by grades and classes, New York 

evening schools 394 

XIIa. Attendance by grades and classes, Boston evening 

schools 395 

XIII. Scores in first test of those who left and those who 

stayed 396 

XIV. Spelling ability of pupils who left and pupils who 

stayed 396 



LIST OF TABLES 

TABLE PAGE 

XV. Average progress by grades between first and 

second tests 397 

XVI. Variation in amount of progress in classes of same 

grade 398 

XVII. Individual progress in spelling in New York and 

Boston standard classes 399 

XVIII. Time devoted to various types of work by super- 
vised and unsupervised teachers 399 

XIX. Comparison of supervised and unsupervised 

teachers in stimulating self-directed activity 400 
XX. Progress under supervised and unsupervised teachers 400 

XXI. Attendance in classes having supervised and un- 
supervised teachers 401 

XXII. Amounts of time devoted to various types of work 

by teachers using different methods 402 

XXIII. Progress of pupils in classes of teachers using 

different methods 403 

XXIV. Attendance in classes of teachers using different 

methods 404 

XXV. Distribution of spelling errors in composition test 405 
XXVI. Number of places in each state reporting public 

school provision 406-407 

XXVII. Public school provision in each state in places 

classified by number and per cent of foreign born 408 



INTRODUCTION 

This book has been in preparation since the 
summer of 1918 and was completed November 
1, 1919. The author would call the reader's 
attention to the kaleidoscopic passage of events 
during this period. Never in a similar space of 
time has there occurred so much affecting human 
thinking and human destiny. At the beginning 
of this period the Germans were shelling Paris 
and seemed destined to make a footstool of the 
world, our own nation included. At the end of 
this period an old order had passed and a new 
order was being ushered in. This new order 
seems at the time of publication of this volume 
to have brought us as much discomfort and con- 
fusion as the domination of autocracy appeared 
to threaten. 

The reader will detect, I doubt not, some re- 
flection of the rapid march of events in the 
character of this volume. The first chapter 
now appears to the author as a somewhat aca- 
demic discussion of the ways in which the school 
can be a factor in the process of nationalization; 
the final chapter is largely a plea for the preser- 
vation of democracy. The first chapter centers 
attention upon a minority group in our popula- 
tion — namely, the immigrant; the last chapter 



INTRODUCTION 

deals with the immigrant only in the setting of 
the native group which is seeking to American- 
ize him, and which seems to have developed 
uncertainty as to the ideals and principles which 
it would have the immigrant adopt. No one can 
doubt that there has taken place a rather com- 
plete overturn of ideas respecting Americaniza- 
tion during this period of change; the term itself 
is being abandoned and we are substituting other 
terms, such as "citizenship" and "national uni- 
fication." 

The author takes this occasion to acknowledge 
the assistance of those collaborators who have 
made the volume possible. Chapter V was pre- 
pared by Mr. Henry Goldberger, lecturer at 
Teachers College, New York; Chapters Viand VII 
by Mr. S. A. Courtis, in charge of research for the 
public schools of Detroit, Michigan; Chapter VIII 
by Mr. John J. Mahoney, director of immigrant 
education for the state of Massachusetts; Chapter 
IX by Mr. M. J. Downey, director of evening 
schools, Boston, Massachusetts; Chapter X by 
Mr. Raymond Moley, chairman of the Amer- 
icanization Committee, of Cleveland, Ohio. The 
remaining chapters represent the authorship of 
the writer solely. The chapters written by the 
collaborators have been edited by the author, 
and in some instances substantially reduced in 
content to make possible their inclusion in this 
volume. In personnel the collaborators repre- 
sent the ablest specialists in the fields of their 
contributions. The author believes that the 
reader is entitled to receive at first hand the 



INTRODUCTION 

ideas of these specialists and, consequently, has 
not attempted to reproduce their messages, but 
has presented them largely as they were pre- 
pared for the purposes of this volume. 

Frank V. Thompson. 

Boston, Massachusetts, 
November 1, 1919. 



SCHOOLING OF THE 
IMMIGRANT 



SCHOOLING OF THE 
IMMIGRANT 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

America is looking with anxious hope to the 
school as the chief instrument of Americaniza- 
tion. It may be proper for one whose thesis 
maintains the importance of the school as an 
agent of Americanization to point to the danger 
of regarding the school as the sole factor or as 
an isolated instrument apart from other forces. 
Modern views of elementary education furnish 
an analogy: as the result of the application of 
scientific tests for determining and testing the 
abilities of school children we are recognizing 
and even measuring the influence of outside-of- 
school experiences in the attainment of school 
standards. Children often make better scores 
in arithmetic at the end of the summer vacation 
than at the end of the preceding school term; the 
child grows in power to perform arithmetical 
operations by making purchases at the store, by 
handling change, by buying war savings stamps. 
l 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Ability to read — that is, ability to interpret 
ideas from printed words — is often acquired by 
means of the disapproved paper-covered tale of 
adventure as well as through the carefully ex- 
purgated models of literature proffered by the 
school, and we no longer doubt the influences, 
good and bad, of the moving-picture show. The 
child who graduates from the elementary school 
at fourteen, having followed the customary 
school course, has an accumulation of ideas and 
habits which are the result of quite complex 
forces. One would hesitate to say definitely how 
much of the good should be credited to the 
school or how much of the good and bad to out- 
side-of-school influences. We are assuming too 
much, consequently, when we conclude that the 
formal schooling of the immigrant will auto- 
matically solve the problem of Americanization. 
Not only the school, but the home, the church, 
the street, the playground, the moving picture, 
the job, are factors which determine the charac- 
ter and tendencies of the citizen. 



NEED OF A COMMON LANGUAGE 

An analysis of the figures * relating to ability 
to speak our tongue among the foreign born in 

1 The number of foreign-born whites ten years of age and over, 
in 1910, was 12,944,529; of these, 2,953,011 were unable to speak 
English in that year. The total number of foreign-born whites in 
the United States in 1910 was 13,345,543; of this number 3,383,110 
came from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and non-French 
Canada, so that practically all the remainder, 9,962,435, were un- 
able to speak English at the time of their arrival in this country 
(computed from Thirteenth Census of the U. S., vol. i, pp. 322, 879, 
2 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

this country will indicate that the school has 
not been the controlling factor in the immigrant's 
acquisition of English. Of the 13,000,000 immi- 
grants ten years of age and over in our country 
in 1910, 3,000,000 were found to be non-English- 
speaking. Of the whole number of immigrants, 
10,000,000 were not acquainted with English at 
the time of their arrival. Only a small propor- 
tion, 760,000 of the 13,000,000, were young 
enough to come under the compulsory-school- 
attendance laws of the various states. About 
7,000,000 non-English-speaking immigrants had 
learned our language sufficiently well to be re- 
corded as English-speaking in the census of 1910, 
and must have acquired their knowledge of 
English largely outside of the schools, for we may 
not conclude that it was acquired in the evening 
schools, since the figures of attendance for this 
agency in that period are quite negligible. Let 
us recognize the fact that the majority of our 
immigrants of non-English-speaking origin have 
learned to speak English, but have acquired this 
knowledge outside of the schools. It is also 
true that there was a minority of 3,000,000 im- 
migrants who had failed to learn to speak 
English either in or outside of the schools, and 



1266). The total number oi loreign-born whites fourteen years of 
age and under, in 1910, was 759,346 (ibid.). The total number of 
foreign-born whites ten years of age and over, able to speak Eng- 
lish, in 1910, was 9,991,518. Deducting from this 3,278,233, the 
number of persons ten years of age and over who came from English- 
speaking countries (estimated as 97 per cent of the total number 
from these countries), the remainder, 6,713,285, is the number of 
immigrants from non-English-speaking countries who could speak 
English in 1910 {ibid.). 

3 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

there is no record of the far greater number who 
cannot read nor write English. 1 These latter 
facts are one of the significant reasons for the 
subsequent discussion. 

In spite of this seeming deprecation of the in- 
fluence of the school upon the immigrant it re- 
mains true that the school can be the most 
important force in reducing materially the large 
degree of ignorance of our language among the 
foreign born. Progressive nations and states are 
able to reduce illiteracy among their native-born 
population and among children of foreign par- 
entage to a fraction of 1 per cent. Extension of 
compulsory -attendance requirements to include 
higher age groups would reduce the compara- 
tively large numbers of immigrants who cannot 
speak nor read English. The school is always 
an effective agent when its resources are used; 
it is an institution under public control and 
consequently the most effective means for ex- 
ercising definite influence. 

The objection may be raised that public con- 
trol of the school extends only to public schools, 
and that the numerous pupils attending private 
institutions may miss the intended influence. 
The spirit of democratic institutions always is 
to give freedom of choice respecting education, 
and very likely this freedom will continue to be 
maintained, with probably some greater assur- 
ances that certain school practices contributing 
to the integrity of a common citizenship will be 
charged uniformly upon all private-school in- 

1 See chap, ii, p. 62. 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

struction. To illustrate : private schools in which 
instruction is given solely or in too large a measure 
in a foreign tongue will probably be required by 
law to teach sufficient English to guarantee a 
competent knowledge of it in their pupils. 

To many, the guaranties respecting freedom 
of religious worship have been involved in the 
educational question. Many native-born Ameri- 
cans fail to understand the close connection in 
the alien's mind between language and religion. 
There is a close connection between these forces 
even for English-speaking peoples; founders, 
leaders, and authorities of English religious sects 
have been uniformly English in blood and have 
taught and written their convictions in that 
tongue. The English bible is in effect a partic- 
ular covenant for the majority of the English- 
speaking peoples. With the foreign born, how- 
ever, the connection is often even more inti- 
mate because of previous repressions which have 
threatened this association; religious devotion 
and feeling are inextricably bound up with the 
native language, so that, in spite of lack of such 
intention on our part, when we begin to propose 
compulsion about language we probably seem to 
the foreign born to infringe upon religious rights. 
This fact is what has caused religious leaders of 
foreign-born groups to oppose language com- 
pulsions. We may have assumed that these 
religious leaders were opponents of national 
loyalty, when in effect they were striving pri- 
marily to conserve religious rights and heritages. 

It should be remembered that education in 

5 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

this country lias uniformly been held, in theory 
at least, to be in part a state function. This 
theory maintains that when education is in- 
trusted to a private institution, the latter is 
commissioned by the state to perform in some 
degree a state function, and that certain require- 
ments deemed essential to efficient educational 
work — e.g., regular attendance, health examina- 
tions, etc. — are to be met as they would be by 
public institutions. There are communities and 
perhaps states where this procedure is "more 
honored in the breach than in the observance," 
but we may expect that our former indifference 
to this condition will disappear. Many states 
now require in private elementary schools the 
teaching of all the fundamental subjects found 
in the curriculums of public schools. Some 
states, such as Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
now provide that required subjects of study be 
taught in the English language. 1 The predic- 
tion may be made that many states will adopt 
similar requirements and enforce their regula- 
tions. The nation itself, through Federal control, 
may well secure from the several states guaranties 
respecting the universalizing of instruction in 
English. Thus, in theory at least, all elementary 
schools, public and private, are definitely con- 
trolled agencies with an important aim, that of 
preparation for citizenship; criticism may be di- 
rected not so justly to the fundamental theory as 
to the failure of its operation. The school, both 
public and private, may and we hope will become a 

1 See chap. ix. 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

powerful influence for a progressive unification in 
our continually renewed diversity of citizenship. 



EUROPEAN ATTEMPTS 

We may pass on to a consideration of the ex- 
periences of other countries in dealing with the 
problem of nationalization through the medium 
of education. We are not the only or even the 
most heterogeneous nation; Austria-Hungary was 
likewise many-peopled, but yet very different 
in the conditions of her heterogeneity. In that 
country the different races were to be found in 
more or less segregated provinces where they had 
lived for long periods. Austria-Hungary was a 
union, or more properly a loose confederation, 
of states and provinces which had been brought 
perforce into an unwilling union, and now have 
become again autonomous. Serious attempts 
were continuously being made, particularly in 
Hungary, to nationalize the distinct peoples 
through the schools, by means of imposing a 
common language; the Italians in the unre- 
deemed provinces were constantly harassed with 
language restrictions. In spite of persecution 
each racial element cherished its own language, 
habits, and culture; Austria-Hungary was at 
best a turbulent and jarring confederacy, not 
a nation. Few will assume, however, that the 
reason for lack of unity was so simple a matter 
as the lack of a common language. 

Switzerland, made up of three racial elements, 
German, French, and Italian, shows a greater 

7 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

national solidarity. The cementing force of 
democratic institutions has brought about among 
the varied racial groups a toleration and sym- 
pathy not found in Austria-Hungary. But in 
Switzerland we find in the schools no common 
language and no definite program for attaining 
unity, with a common language as the instru- 
ment. In one part of Switzerland, German is 
the language of the schools; in another section 
French is the official language; and in yet an- 
other area Italian is the medium of instruction. 
In the Swiss Parliament all three languages are 
officially recognized. 

Germany, too, has had her language problem, 
particularly in her Polish and French provinces. 
Germany, contrary to world experience in policies 
of language restriction, has attempted to Ger- 
manize her subject peoples by means of insisting 
upon a common language, as instanced in her 
dealings with Alsace-Lorraine and German Po- 
land. While Germany may have in part imposed 
her language, she has not achieved the intended 
result of nationalization. The German procedure 
shows strikingly that the mere imposition of a 
language cannot automatically bring about na- 
tionalization, a fact which uncompromising advo- 
cates of compulsion in this country should note. 1 

PROGRESS IN AMERICA 

We are counseled that history contains nothing 
but warnings. There is apparently no successful 

1 See Alsace-Lorraine Under German Rule, by Charles S. Hazen. 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

precedent as to nationalization, by means of 
either a common language taught in the schools 
or other devices, for us to follow in our contem- 
plated program of Americanization. There are 
two reasons, however, why we hope for success 
where others may have failed. 

The first is the fact that on the point of a com- 
mon language we have already achieved some 
measure of success even with our inadequate 
program. As has been stated, the census of 
1910 reports about thirteen million foreign- 
born persons in our land, and of this number 
about three million who were unable to speak 
English. From figures given above it is evident 
that the majority of non-English-speaking immi- 
grants learn in some degree to speak our common 
tongue. The figures relating to non-English- 
speaking immigrants who become citizens show 
that a considerable portion obtain sufficient 
knowledge of English to meet the qualifications 
for naturalization. 1 We have seen that our 
non-English-speaking immigrants have not ac- 
quired English as the result of formal schooling; 
for the statistics show that in one school year 
(1910) only a small percentage of adult non- 
English-speaking immigrants were found in our 
schools (1.3 per cent). There are agencies 
other than public schools for learning English, 

' Up to the census of 1910, 2,270,208 non-English-speaking immi- 
grants had become naturalized — about one-third of the whole 
number who had learned to speak English. Naturalization tests 
differ as to standards in various sections of the United States, and 
statistics of naturalization cannot be relied upon as evidences of 
knowledge of English among those naturalized. 

2 9 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

but it is certain that the total number of immi- 
grants reached by private agencies is less than 
the number attending public schools. Never- 
theless, without compulsion, usually in the past 
without encouragement, our non-English-speak- 
ing immigrants have acquired our language in 
some degree — from association with those speak- 
ing it, from newspapers, from contacts in labor 
unions and like organizations. If so much in 
the way of learning English has been achieved 
with so little organized attention to the process, 
we may conclude that with more effort and 
more competent purposeful attention much more 
can be accomplished. We may consequently 
be hopeful for the success of a program of Ameri- 
canization properly conceived and wisely admin- 
istered. 

The fact that the problem of nationalization 
which confronts us is essentially different from 
that of all other nations is a second reason for 
our confidence. No lengthy array of arguments 
is necessary to demonstrate the truth of this 
assertion. As has been pointed out, older coun- 
tries in attempting to nationalize their foreign- 
born inhabitants have usually dealt with con- 
quered or subject peoples who resided in provinces 
and districts once autonomous. To these subject 
peoples nationalization or conformity to the 
wishes or to the might of the controlling group 
meant destruction of their own cherished order, 
which was naturally a cause for resentment and 
opposition. Language, perhaps more potently 
than religion, is the symbol of racial personality 
10 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

exalted as the right which even might may not 
take away; in other words, among these subject 
races language has been held a fundamental 
right which no constitution of men may remove. 
Our immigrants, consequently, arrive with a 
strong inherent hostility to all attempts to 
suppress their language. 

Another situation with respect to the new 
language is presented when the immigrant seeks 
our shores. He comes to our land as a place of 
opportunity and is not driven by the sword of 
conquest. He does not come under our jurisdic- 
tion as the result of compulsion or of the ruthless 
exercise of power. There is a moral and easily 
recognized obligation on the part of those who 
seek another land as a haven or as a place of 
opportunity; this obligation implies that those 
seeking admittance should make reasonable effort 
to conform to the customs and become acquainted 
with the language of the nation receiving them. 
In this country we may expect, consequently, a 
different mental attitude toward nationalization 
on the part of the alien than that found in older 
countries where the problem has proved in- 
solvable. 



COMPULSION OR PERSUASION 

In a contemplated program of Americaniza- 
tion, the important decision that confronts us 
is whether we shall proceed by means of a policy 
of compulsion or by one of persuasion. Shall 

we insist that the stranger who has entered our 

11 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

land shall by force of law and compulsion acquire 
our language, conform to our major customs, 
become naturalized, and renounce all prior 
allegiance, or shall we attempt to persuade him 
to adopt American customs, and to use our 
language, by pointing out the moral obligation, 
by furnishing convenient means in the way of 
free instruction, and perhaps by granting privi- 
leges which may be withheld from the non- 
citizen? A no less important question may be 
raised as to whether or not compulsion, if 
adopted, shall be employed in the case of those 
who are already here or only in the case of those 
who may come in the future. 

It is desirable at this point merely to raise 
these issues and not to attempt a commitment. 
Americanization is one of the issues raised by the 
war. A realization of past shortcomings is keen 
in time of war and we hasten to make amends. 
Emergencies are usually met by compulsory 
measures, and the recent war emergency has 
increased the tendency to meet all situations 
by such means. The situation has its dangers 
as well as its advantages, and there may be a 
danger in formulating our program of Americani- 
zation at this moment, as we may incline to 
extreme measures. Having gone too slowly 
before, we may now be tempted to go too fast. 
Having undertaken too little till now, we may 
undertake too much; from no regulation we 
may jump to overregulation, from a policy of 
laissez-faire and individualism to ordinance and 
autocracy. We are beginning to realize that 
12 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

the spirit of autocracy is not peculiar to any one 
race or country, and is potential at least in the 
freest of governments and present somewhere 
in the instincts of all of us. It is only when this 
spirit controls and dominates that the resulting 
government is denominated an autocracy and 
the individual an autocrat. It is the principle 
of democracy always to make decisions on the 
theory that there are two sides to every question 
and some good on each side. Autocracy and 
Bolshevism agree in method, at least, in that 
under either of these, decisions are made from 
but one point of view, with no admission that 
there can be an opposite standpoint. 

We may suspect the so-called 100-per-cent 
Americans of holding autocratic views with re- 
gard to a proper program of Americanization. 
With undoubted zeal and single-minded purpose 
they would within a brief period of time compel 
all non-English-speaking immigrants, those here 
now as well as those to come, to acquire the 
English language; they would compel the taking 
out of citizenship papers and conformity in 
dress, manners, and mode of living to the stand- 
ard of native Americans. They would by edict 
abolish the Little Italies, the Little Hungaries, 
and the ghettos. They would have the recent 
comers abandon former dreams, hopes, and 
aspirations, and feel, act, and live in the ways 
that are natural to the native born, who have 
been more fortunate in environment and cir- 
cumstances. They demand, in fact, a revolution 
in the life of the foreign-born individual. The 

13 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

native who makes this demand is unconscious 
of the evolution which several generations have 
produced in himself. If Americanism is pri- 
marily a mode of thinking and feeling, the com- 
pulsionist is forced to maintain the theory that 
habits of thinking and feeling can be manu- 
factured by force and decree. 

Those who would limit compulsion to immi- 
grants who are to come in the future, and who 
may be duly notified of the new condition, 
make a stronger case than the compulsionists 
who would resort to an ex post facto procedure and 
require those who are already here to conform 
to a regulation not obtaining at the time of 
their coming. The recent literacy amendment 
to our immigration laws (May, 1917) imposes 
nothing retroactive. The imposition of an addi- 
tional amendment requiring literacy in the Eng- 
lish language for those who wish to enter our 
country, a literacy to be acquired within a limited 
number of years subsequent to entrance, would 
have the virtue of a contract known in advance. 

Opposed to the compulsionist is the advocate 
of voluntary nationalization. At the present 
time he is little less embarrassed than is the 
compulsionist. His system does not seem to have 
got anywhere. Most of our communities * have 
not set up provisions for the education of the 
immigrant, and where communities have done 
so there is always the disappointing discrepancy 
between the number of those who are attracted 
and those who we wish might be. A curious 

1 See chap. iii. 

14 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

paradox seems involved in estimating the advan- 
tages of either method: to democratize our 
newer brethren we must resort to autocratic 
procedure; the democratic method does not 
promise to democratize. But the democratic 
method at least has permitted the immigrant 
to Americanize himself. There has been going 
on an automatic process of Americanization 
which our democratic method has permitted 
and encouraged; while it is regrettable that 
there is so large a number of non-English-speak- 
ing immigrants among us, it is also surprising 
and pleasing that the greater proportion of our 
foreign born have sought and acquired that 
which we have not forced upon them. 

CITIZENSHIP TRAINING 

All the preceding discussion concerns the pro- 
cedure adopted or proposed for adult immi- 
grants, those who might resort to evening schools, 
factory classes, home instruction, or to other 
forms of part-time schooling. Immigrant chil- 
dren and the children of immigrants come under 
the compulsory-education law, a compulsion of 
another nature than that discussed for the adult. 
If some degree of amalgamation has taken place 
in this country, if the kind of Americanism we 
now find may be likened to a stream with vary- 
ing and unequal currents and not to a series of 
parallel water courses, then the school must 
be given credit for a considerable part in the 
achievement. 

An astonishing fact about the work of the 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

common schools is that Americanization has 
scarcely been a conscious motive. Americani- 
zation has taken place through the schools, 
but it has been an unconscious by-product; 
Americanization has been in the background 
among the objectives of the teachers' efforts, 
but specifically the teacher has been more con- 
cerned with the fundamental processes of edu- 
cation and with the fine and industrial arts. 
There is very seldom designated in the elemen- 
tary-school weekly program of 1,500 minutes 
any subject entitled citizenship. The study of 
civics is often assigned a place in the program 
of the upper grades, but the study of civics we 
know may not be estimated as equivalent to a 
training in citizenship. Training and promotion 
for teachers involve a multitude of requirements, 
but nowhere among these is there a test of 
acquaintanceship with the problem of Ameri- 
canization. 

And yet Americanization and citizenship are 
usual resultants of all school training. The 
child receives impressions, inspirations, and im- 
pulses from the picture he sees in the classroom, 
from the stories he reads in his history, from the 
exercises he attends in the assembly hall, from 
the celebration of patriotic anniversaries and the 
salute of the flag. We furnish special classes 
sometimes for non-English-speaking children, 
but we do so merely for the purpose of enabling 
these children to enter the regular grades with- 
out delay. We have no special course of study 
(except in rare instances), or other exceptional 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

provision for immigrant children, designed for 
purposes of Americanization. We do not have 
anything of this kind even when immigrant 
children constitute the major portion of, or, as 
sometimes happens, comprise entirely, the school 
group. Perhaps this situation is not defensible, 
but as yet no one has called attention to a 
condition of neglect. 

Unlike the day school, our evening schools 
as now established, and likewise the proposed 
extensions of evening schools on some more 
comprehensive basis, strive to secure results in 
Americanization by means of specific effort. 
The subject of citizenship is much more em- 
phasized in evening-school courses of study 
than in the day schools, and in fact is largely 
required in all such classes. Material for read- 
ing is quite generally patriotic in character and 
the instruction in the rights and duties of citizen- 
ship is made very specific, answering to the 
standards of citizenship set up by the require- 
ments of the naturalization process. Citizen- 
ship is an immediate and pressing problem with 
the adult immigrant, and may properly be made 
a motivation of work in evening-school classes. 
A similar objective is too sophisticated and too 
remote to make as strong an appeal to the pupils 
in the day school. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER COUNTRIES 

Turning our attention again to the practices 
of other nations in using the schools, more 
particularly the day school, as an instrument for 

17 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

nationalization, we may refer to conditions in 
England, France, Germany, and Japan. Eng- 
land, like our own nation, has made no effort 
to set up nationalization as a conscious objective. 
England, like America, has had the ideal of 
educating the individual child primarily for his 
own welfare and secondarily for the welfare of 
the state. English education has emphasized 
conventional knowledge which enables the in- 
dividual child to deal with other individuals, 
has endeavored to give the child some power 
of aesthetic appreciation for his own personal 
enjoyment, and more recently has begun to 
give vocational training, again primarily for 
the well-being of the child in his after-career 
as a producer. England, as well as America, 
has placed its hope in an educational principle 
which is the reverse of the German doctrine — 
namely, that collectively strong individuals will 
constitute a strong state, as against the German 
idea that the strong state must be composed 
of efficient individuals. 

German programs of study show that the 
motive of nationalization is in no way incidental. 
Whereas English and American courses of study 
are based on the hope that the well-trained 
individual may fit somewhere into economic 
and political society, the German courses of 
study take care that that end shall be attained. 
The individual in Germany has been regarded 
as valuable only as an economic or military unit. 
It has been previously pointed out that the 
background of American school influence is na- 

18 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

tionalistic, while the courses of study are not. 
In Germany both background and formal 
courses of study are nationalistic. In all Ger- 
man courses of study, whatever the social classi- 
fication of the pupils for whom they are designed, 
is found a substantial provision of time devoted 
to religion. While the study of religion would 
seem to have little to do with nationalization, 
all experience has shown that religion and na- 
tionality are closely interwoven. Experience in 
this country with private religious schools main- 
tained by racial groups which are not English- 
speaking has aroused the suspicion that the 
emphasis upon religious teaching, combined with 
use of the foreign tongue, has tended not toward 
nationalization, but toward intro-nationalization. 
Besides religion as a formal nationalizing prin- 
ciple, we find emphasized in German elementary 
courses of study the mother tongue, geography, 
primarily of Germany and of her colonies and 
dependencies, and history, chiefly of Germany. 
On the surface it may not appear that the com- 
mon-school education of Germany is more 
nationalistic than that of most other countries. 
The difference is largely one of spirit, not of 
form. The viciousness of the spirit of the Ger- 
man school system has lain in the inculcation 
of the "superior race" obsession, together with 
the notion that Germany was beset by enemies 
seeking her destruction. No one has doubted 
either the intensely nationalistic spirit of Ger- 
many nor the part that the German school 
system has had in building this spirit. 

19 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

French programs of study, strangely enough, 
are quite similar in form to those found in Ger- 
many. In place of religion, however, we find 
the term morale, which means an ethical code 
not associated with any one form of religion. 
In French schools, the emphasis upon nationalis- 
tic training is marked, especially since religious 
control of education has been displaced by state 
pre-eminence. We may all admit that while 
France in building up a strong state has not had 
in view the domination of other states, she has 
had the aim of building a state strong enough to 
resist the domination of strong enemy states. 

Japanese programs of study have frequently 
been thought to be imitative of German practice. 
They may be more accurately associated with 
the French type, in that morale is featured 
instead of religious teaching. The Japanese 
school is designedly nationalistic in character, 
and educational forces and instruments are used 
formally and specifically to this end. 

The English and American viewpoint and 
procedure in education have been international 
in tendency. The fancied national security of 
the two nations has made this course easy. It 
is probable, however, that Americans have never 
clearly analyzed their motives in this respect, 
and that our practice has been instinctive, our 
tendencies native unconscious virtues, if virtues 
they be in fact. It is likewise probable that 
America would have continued to go on indef- 
initely, with no concern about a nationalizing 
principle in education, had not the war revealed 
20 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

some of the dangers of her situation. The issues 
of the war threatened the continuance of the 
freedom of thought and action which had made 
us heedless of the need of nationalization. We 
suddenly found ourselves in the situation which 
France has long faced — we must have a national 
solidarity, not to dominate, but to escape domina- 
tion. 

It seems clear that the principle of nationaliza- 
tion can be good or bad in accordance with the 
motives which lead to it. No nation can be 
secure in peace or competent in war without 
guaranties as to the loyalty and unity of its 
citizens, and these matters cannot be taken for 
granted, as we have taken them in the past. 
Even with its greater homogeneity of population, 
England in the future may be expected to do 
much more toward nationalization through 
her schools. America, with its diversified popu- 
lation, will surely be alert to the need of nationali- 
zation through the schools, as perhaps the strong- 
est lesson which the war has taught us. 

A FEDERAL FUNCTION 

In a peculiar way the problem of immigrant edu- 
cation is essentially a Federal one. The first 
homes of immigrants are established within a 
few states. Thus they are initiated into Amer- 
ican life at the expense of the few states, though 
later they may scatter through the others. While 
the states and communities may actually carry 
out the program of education, it is the business 

21 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT ' 

of the Federal government to see that the work 
is done, furnishing the means if necessary. The 
Federal government sets up the conditions under 
which the immigrant may enter the country, 
and assumes a guardianship, in theory, over the 
immigrant after he is here. The Federal govern- 
ment sets up the standards for naturalization, 
tests applicants, and admits to citizenship those 
deemed worthy. Our accumulating experience 
with the problems of self-government shows that 
democracy is conditioned by the degree of educa- 
tion, enlightenment, and virtue of its people. 
We may assume that the Federal government 
admits the immigrant primarily that he may 
participate in its citizenship, and not purely for 
the purpose of securing cheap labor for our 
industries. We will not admit that we deliber- 
ately wish to set up in the midst of our national 
life a large nonparticipating group, aliens in 
tongue, habit, and aspiration. If, therefore, we 
are sincere in our professions regarding the 
purposes of citizenship, then the educational 
obligation is manifest. Yet there is enough in 
the history of our indifference to the education 
of the immigrant to justify the accusation that 
we have sought workers, not citizens. Let us 
trust that it will not take another war or recur- 
rence of national menace to arouse us to a 
proper sense of obligation in the education of the 
immigrant. 

The campaign for Americanization began in 
1915, and it was at this time that our official 
bureaus began to formulate programs and to 

22 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION , 

seek funds and authority. The Bureau of 
Naturalization, as well as the Bureau of Educa- 
tion, gave vigorous attention to the problem, 
though the Bureau of Naturalization before 1915 
was not conspicuous for aggressive action look- 
ing toward the creation of new citizens from our 
immigrant population by means of education. 
It must be confessed that in spite of our official 
pride in our democratic institutions and our con- 
ditions of freedom and opportunity for the op- 
pressed, we have needed gross and utilitarian 
incentives like those of fear, "safety first," and 
"it pays," to start us toward the paths of justice 
and humanity with respect to the immigrant. 
Now that our fears because of a foreign foe have 
been allayed, and we have escaped those dangers 
which we believed imminent, it is unthinkable 
that we should lapse into our former attitude of 
indifference. 

The war itself has generated and universalized 
higher and nobler motives. That which we 
have begun to do from fear we shall continue 
and enlarge from motives of justice and human- 
ity. We shall not be so much concerned that 
the immigrant should, by reason of a knowledge 
of our tongue, be able to avoid accidents and be 
content to remain at his work or even be able 
to read food regulations. Rather, we will be 
concerned that he may be able to share in our 
citizenship, learn our ideals, contribute his 
share to the thinking and action of the nation. 
The opportunity at least for all immigrants to 
learn our language will be provided by com- 

23 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

petent public agencies — whether primarily from 
Federal, state, or community funds is a question 
which may be reserved for subsequent discussion. 
The opportunity will not, as heretofore, be pro- 
vided, if at all, largely by employer, settlement 
house, religious or political organization, or by 
inadequate evening-school facilities. 

DEMOCRACY USES ITS SCHOOLS 

As in the case of the native born, we place our 
greatest hope for the improvement of the race 
in the education of the children, so we must 
hope and shape our plans with respect to the 
immigrant. Educational compulsion for the 
mature cannot overcome the laws of nature; 
the change or reformation of the adult has its 
limitations both for native and foreign born. 
There are those who seem to expect that the 
immigrant can be made over, although it is rec- 
ognized that the attempt is futile in the case of 
the native — a high compliment to the immigrant, 
but an undeserved one. We may expect, con- 
sequently, that results in Americanization will be 
possible in proportion to the maturity or imma- 
turity of the immigrant at the time of his arrival. 
For the mature we should not neglect the de- 
velopment of any potentiality for readjustment 
to American thought and customs. The freest 
opportunity should be furnished all immigrants, 
however mature; but our surest hope for uni- 
form and competent results must rest upon the 
children of the immigrant, who must be provided 

24 



THE SCHOOL AND NATIONALIZATION 

with better facilities than those now obtaining. 
We should commend and strive to have adopted 
universally the state legislation that requires 
part-time school attendance for illiterates under 
twenty-one years of age; there are, moreover, 
good arguments for some extension of this limit. 
The present period of interest, agitation, and 
propaganda should be superseded by positive 
action. At present we are proceeding to do 
through communities unassisted what should be 
done by communities assisted by states and aided 
by Federal agencies. We need comprehensive 
legislation and more adequate funds; what we 
are now doing is comparatively inconsiderable. 
The immigrant has climbed without our helping 
hand; wherever the immigrant is found, there 
should be the extended hand. Americanization 
should not be the result of fortunate accident; 
democracy cannot be achieved or made safe by 
accident. 
3 



II 

PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

In a loose and popular sense the process of Ameri- 
canization consists in changing immigrants into 
Americans. There exists an easy assumption 
to the effect that the immigrant by reason of 
his inability to speak our language and to follow 
our customs is necessarily on a lower plane 
mentally, spiritually, and morally than is the 
native American. This careless conception 
makes it easy to look upon Americanization as 
a kind of process of conversion by which the 
benighted immigrant joins the elect and aban- 
dons his former evil ways. We cannot conclude 
that such inadequate conceptions are either true 
or effective in attaining the results which we 
are seeking. The assumption of a virtue in- 
herent in the native by reason of his being an 
American, and of lack of it in the immigrant, 
may turn out to be an error in both respects. 
Lack of such virtue is less excusable in the native 
than in the foreign born, for the native has had 
opportunities which the newcomer has not had. 
But in a broader and more appropriate sense, 
Americanization is a process to be applied to 
both the native and the foreign born. An ideal 

26 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

program of Americanization undoubtedly would 
be to submit both the unworthy native and 
the unknowing immigrant to the same process, 
for we need from the standpoint of citizenship 
to improve our native born as well as to give to 
the foreign born the chance of becoming citizens. 
However, from pragmatic considerations, we 
shall probably continue to prescribe "Ameri- 
canization" chiefly for the foreign born, though 
in doing so we should not permit our concep- 
tion of the process to be controlled by the mis- 
apprehension that what is native is necessarily 
superior and what is foreign is necessarily 
inferior. Let us assume that we mean by 
Americanism those best American ideals and 
standards which the best Americans have created, 
which we would have adopted by all Americans, 
whether native or foreign-born. There is little 
excuse if the native fails to meet these ideals 
and considerable reason for leniency in the case 
of the immigrant. 

THE STREAM OF IMMIGRATION 

The problem of Americanization for the foreign 
born arises from the situation created by im- 
migration, early and recent. Of the vast ma- 
terial of written records, reports, statistics, 
recommendations, and discussions on the subject 
of immigration, not a great deal relates to the 
field of this volume. Some of the facts, figures, 
and situations are pertinent and may be intro- 
duced at this point. We have noted * that in 

1 Chap. i. 

27 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

1910 there were reported in the census returns 
3,000,000 foreign-born white persons ten years 
of age and over who were unable to speak 
English, and this number represented 23 per 
cent of all the foreign-born persons ten years 
of age and over in the United States. These 
immigrants are found largely in the northeastern 
section of our country, north of the Ohio River 
and east of the Mississippi (Diagram 1). More 

Diagram 1. — Concentration of Foreign-born Population 
in Ten States 

in 38"Non. 

immigrant States* 



In 10 "ImmigrantStates" 



Total foreign-born 
in U.S. 




than two-thirds of them are found in the states 
of New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massa- 
chusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, Texas, Wisconsin, 
and Michigan. Each of these states has over 
100,000 non-English-speaking foreign-born in- 
habitants, from Michigan with 102,000 to New 
York with 597,000. * Commenting on these 
figures, F. E. Farrington 2 asserts that where 
there are massed groups of foreign born there is 
a disinclination to learn English; he notes that 
the states above named contain 67.6 per cent 



1 Thirteenth Census of the U. S., vol. i, pp. 1269, 1277. tables 
6, 18. 

2 United States Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 18 (1916). 

28 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

of the total foreign-born population of the 
country, and 73.6 per cent of all those who are 
reported as unable to speak English. This de- 
duction, however, seems unwarranted in view 
of the fact that in states where the proportion 
of immigrants to natives is low, the number of 
persons reported as unable to speak English is 
relatively greater than in those in which the 
proportion of immigrants to natives is high. In 
Kansas and in Oklahoma, where the ratio of 
foreign born to total white population is low, 
the proportion unable to speak English is higher 
than in such states as Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, Michigan, and others in which the pro- 
portionate numbers of the foreign born are 
greater. In explanation of this situation it must 
be pointed out that the mode of settlement in 
the former states is largely agricultural and 
rural, while in the latter it is an industrial and 
urban life into which the immigrant is drawn. 
About 72 per cent of all immigrants reported 
in the census of 1910 were living in communities 
of 2,500 or over. Immigrants living in cities 
learn to speak English more quickly than those 
who settle in the country. This may be due to 
better educational facilities in the cities, as well 
as to more association between older and newer 
immigrants, in social organizations and industrial 
establishments. 

Since 1891 the number of immigrants coming 
from non-English-speaking countries has in- 
creased markedly. From 1891 to 1900, immi- 
grants from southern and eastern Europe con- 

29 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

stituted 52.8 per cent of the total number 
coming to this country. From 1901 to 1910, 
immigrants from southern and eastern Europe 
constituted 71.7 per cent of the whole number. 
Between 1890 and 1910 the number of immi- 
grants unable to speak English increased by 
1,581,967, or 115 per cent, as opposed to 47 
per cent, the rate of increase of the total foreign- 
born population ten years of age and over. 

The great problem of the non-English-speak- 
ing immigrant is comparatively recent, and 
complicated by several factors : first, the increase 
of all immigration; second, the preponderance 
of immigrants from non-English-speaking na- 
tions; and, third, the fact that our newer immi- 
grants have come from countries having a high 
degree of illiteracy. The recent amendment 
to the immigration law (May, 1917) denies 
admission to illiterates; but before this measure 
was enacted there had been added to our popula- 
tion a large number of persons who came with 
the double disability of illiteracy in any lan- 
guage and non-English speech. 

The most profound difficulty of all lies in the 
relatively high ages of the immigrants who 
come to us. It is obvious that if all immigrants 
came young enough there would be no problem 
of a common language, since the compulsory- 
school laws would guarantee both literacy and 
ability to speak English. But our immigrants 
are to a large extent past the compulsory -school - 
attendance age when they arrive. Of the 
2,953,011 non-English-speaking immigrants re- 

30 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

ported in the census of 1910, 2,565,612 were 
twenty-one years of age and over, well beyond 
the compulsory-school-attendance age. Adults 
may attend evening schools, it is admitted, 
provided there are such facilities and the immi- 
grant chooses to attend. We have seen how 
small is the number of adults attending any 
school. 

What are some of the facts regarding maturity 
of immigrants and ability to speak English? 
The twenty-year-old immigrant shows the high- 
est percentage of inability — i.e., 40 per cent. One 
in three between the ages of fifteen and twenty 
is unable to speak English; for the age group 
between twenty-one and twenty-four, the same 
proportion is found; for the age group between 
twenty-five and forty-four, the figure is one in 
four. The poorest showings are shown in the 
West South Central, the Mountain, the South 
Atlantic, and the East North Central divisions 
as designated by the United States census. 
Of the states having a foreign-born population 
of 250,000 or more, the states that make the 
best showing are Minnesota, Iowa, Massachu- 
setts, and California. Among large cities, Bos- 
ton ranks first, reporting inability to speak 
English for only 17 per cent of her foreign-born 
population of the age group between fifteen and 
twenty years of age, for 16 per cent of those 
between twenty-one and twenty-four years of 
age, and for 1 1 per cent of those between twenty- 
five and forty-four years of age. 1 The census 

1 Thirteenth Census of the United States, vol. i, pp. 438, 1275. 
31 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of 1910 reveals the significant fact that English 
is the mother tongue of but 31 per cent of the 
foreign-born white stock in this country, whereas 
German is the mother tongue of 27 per cent. 
From 4 to 7 per cent of our foreign-born white 
stock are assigned to each of the following 
language groups : Italian, Polish, Yiddish, Swed- 
ish, and French. 

ADULT ATTENDANCE NEGLIGIBLE 

What are some of the facts concerning the 
number of immigrants past the compulsory 
school age who are attending school? The poor 
showing for adult immigrants has already been 
noted. There is considerable variation in prac- 
tices of control in various sections of the country. 
Few states have, as has Massachusetts, 1 com- 
pulsory evening schools for all minor illiterates. 
The poorest percentages of attendance for im- 
migrants of the age group from fifteen to twenty 
years, and for those over twenty-one, are found 
in the South Atlantic, East North Central, and 
West South Central, and Pacific divisions. The 
best showings by states are those of Minnesota, 
California, New York, Michigan, and Massa- 
chusetts. For cities the ranking is in the follow- 
ing order: Boston, New York, San Francisco, 
Buffalo, Newark. Boston — which holds the same 
priority as regards school attendance for all three 
elements of her population, foreign born, native 
born of foreign parentage, and native born of 
native parentage — is notable, among all cities 

1 See chap, ix, p. 302 

32 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

having a foreign-born population of 100,000 or 
more, for its school-attendance figures for these 
age groups. Yet although more than half the 
foreign born in that city are between the ages 
of twenty and forty-four, only 6 per cent of those 
are in school. Of foreign-born children between 
fifteen and twenty years of age, only 19.1 per cent 
are in school, as compared with 31.3 per cent of 
native-born children of foreign-born or mixed 
parentage, and ^1.7 per cent of native-born children 
of native parentage. 

The combined factors — namely, failure to 
attend school, illiteracy in any language, and 
non-English speech, result in a condition which 
we cannot view without concern. Our more 
recent immigrants have a more difficult road to 
travel to reach citizenship than those who came 
earlier with fewer handicaps. Assuming that 
the later immigrants are just as willing and 
possessed of as much inherent capacity as the 
earlier groups, it is obvious that it is necessary 
to do more through organized forces for those 
who come with greater disadvantages. 

The literacy provision in the new immigra- 
tion law is designed to meet one of the problems 
noted above — namely, illiteracy in any language. 
Should this law be strictly applied, a large num- 
ber of immigrants from nations in which there 
is a high degree of illiteracy would be denied 
entrance. This would shut out probably a 
third of the immigrants from southern and 
eastern Europe, whence the great mass in recent 
years has come. The provisions of the new 

33 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

immigration law which make exceptions for 
immigrants fleeing from religious and political 
persecution modify somewhat the operation of 
the law. During the fiscal year 1917-18, 88,421 
aliens were admitted; the number debarred on 
account of illiteracy was 1,263, or 1.4 per cent 
of the total number admitted — a considerable 
reduction in the proportionate number of illit- 
erates seeking admission into this country. 

To summarize: The census of 1910 reveals 
that we have in our country people of practically 
every racial origin, the bulk of them now coming 
from countries with the lowest of educational 
standards. There has been an increase, in the 
last decennial period, of 53 per cent in the num- 
ber of immigrants from southeastern Europe, 
with the resulting increase, in every part of the 
country, of a population unable to speak English. 
In 1910, one immigrant in eight was unable to 
write in any language, and one in four was unable 
to speak English. Few immigrants over the 
compulsory-attendance age are found in any 
school. We have depended, and are depending, 
upon casual and automatic forces for the assimila- 
tion of the foreign born. Have we not sufficient 
reason to urge a constructive and definite pro- 
gram to accomplish deliberately and certainly 
that which is now left to chance, and which con- 
sequently is often not accomplished at all? 

PROVISION INADEQUATE 

The extent of the problem and the need for 
Americanization have been indicated above. 

34 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

It is now fitting that there should follow some 
discussion of what the school and other agencies 
have done, are doing, and should do, to improve 
the conditions demanding attention. As has 
been stated, the problem of the immigrant from 
southeastern Europe is comparatively recent, 
and has become acute only since 1890. Public 
interest in the matter is still more recent, and 
adequate corrective measures are yet to be 
adopted. The report of the Commissioner of 
Education for 1916 contains, in an excellent 
chapter written by H. H. Wheaton, an account 
which is sufficiently clear and comprehensive to 
justify an extended quotation: 

In 1914, when the Bureau of Education began a national 
investigation of facilities for the education of aliens, chaos 
existed in this important phase of education. Few estab- 
lished and well-approved standards existed, and practically 
all methods were in the experimental stage. Policies, ex- 
cept that of Federal noninterference, were known only to 
cities and states where evening schools for immigrants had 
long been maintained. Public agencies of various kinds 
were endeavoring to treat the problem each in its own way, 
without definite endeavor to co-operate with other agencies, 
and with no fixed policies. Immigrant education was con- 
sidered at this time primarily a matter for local attention 
and jurisdiction. The spectacle of cities working out meth- 
ods independently, and adopting fads in immigrant educa- 
tion without the co-ordinating influence of even a clearing- 
house of information, was so common as hardly to excite 
comment. State supervision, and especially state aid, had 
not at this time been seriously considered. Only one state, 
New Jersey, had specified financial aid for the encourage- 
ment of immigrant classes. Only one other state, Massa- 
chusetts, had legislative provisions requiring the school 
attendance of illiterates up to twenty-one years of age. 
35 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Federal interest was considered in some quarters both in- 
opportune and improper. Establishment and maintenance 
of educational facilities had, by established precedent and 
constitutional and legislative provisions, been left primarily 
to state governments and municipal and district school 
jurisdictions. The same policy was applied to the educa- 
tion of immigrants. Such Federal interest as existed de- 
rived its impetus largely from the national attempt to 
remove illiteracy, since the foreign-born whites contributed 
in large numbers to the body of illiterates. The establish- 
ment of fundamental principles and policies in the education 
of immigrants was, so far as the Federal government was 
concerned, agitated chiefly by reformers and social workers 
who came into more direct contact with the problem than 
government officials. 

In contrast to state and Federal agencies, numerous 
private agencies and organizations — city, state, and national, 
civic, patriotic, and educational — were exploiting the field 
of immigrant education extensively. Frequently this was 
due to ulterior motives, among which may be cited the desire 
to secure financial support. Owing to the general, and in 
some cases unintelligent, public interest in the immigrant, 
appealing instances of this condition were described for the 
purpose of securing contributions. Again, the creation 
and maintenance of English and civic classes were utilized 
as a means of building up the schools of private agencies, 
many of which, if investigated, would not have received 
full public sanction. The efforts of some private agencies, 
furthermore, were well-meaning, but directed through the 
wrong channels. Types of educational facilities and instruc- 
tion were provided, wholly unsuited to the immigrant type, 
need, and condition, with the result that immigrant men 
and women were induced to attend classes of no practical 
value either to them in their life in America or to the coun- 
try as an Americanizing influence. While the activities of 
the various private agencies so far mentioned were excusable, 
their general intentions being good, the exploitation of im- 
migrants by political organizations and fellow countrymen 
who maintained classes of instruction cither for the purpose 
of securing excessive fees or for the purpose of making 
36 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

partisans politically of the immigrants who were being 
trained, was peculiarly harmful and a common occurrence. 
In several states, particularly California, through the in- 
vestigation of the Commission of Immigration and Housing, 
instances were found where immigrants paid from twenty- 
five dollars to fifty dollars for a two weeks' course in English 
and civil government that they might be equipped to pass 
their naturalization examinations. So-called political clubs 
were formed in many localities by foreign-born citizens, 
who were hirelings of petty political leaders and who, under 
the guise of giving civic training, promoted the interests of 
such politicians or of some political party. 1 

This description of the situation may well 
serve as a starting point. As indicated in 
Chapter I, the World War caused us to give con- 
sideration to the neglected problem of Ameri- 
canization among other questions of pressing 
national import. Since 1914 interest with regard 
to Americanization has been marked; the war 
and its various issues have aroused us from our 
previous state of lethargy. We are formulating 
programs, bringing about co-ordination of effort, 
and setting up principles of procedure which 
have good promise of becoming effective if we 
can secure appropriate legislation and sufficient 
funds. The war has ended and our fears have 
been somewhat assuaged. It remains to be 
seen whether the new sense of security will 
permit a recurrence of the former indifference 
which made us neglect our obvious obligations 
toward the immigrant. 

In spite of the fact that our present situation 
is an improvement over that of 1914, our present 

1 Report of Commissioner of Education, 1916. 
37 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

union of feeble public agencies and heterogeneous 
private enterprises constitutes the most potent 
argument for the fundamental plans that we are 
urging upon the states and upon the nation. 
The forces we now possess are operating more 
intelligently, but they are sadly inadequate to 
cope with the problem. And in spite of the 
strenuous attempt to simplify procedure, our 
present machinery is still essentially complex. 
The community endeavoring to do something 
immediately about a program of Americaniza- 
tion and wishing to act intelligently and effi- 
ciently, using appropriately the separate existing 
forces, discovers a situation disconcertingly con- 
fusing. 

The Boston Chamber of Commerce, in attempt- 
ing to meet the problem of Americanization in 
that city, formulated in August, 1918, an organi- 
zation chart for proposed action, as shown in 
Diagram 2. It is interesting to note that this 
body felt obliged to adopt a procedure based 
upon the functioning of special war agencies, 
agencies essentially of emergency character which 
passed with the conclusion of the war. The 
Boston chamber's program was apparently 
obliged to assume that business and industry 
should bear the expense of education and should 
exercise supervisory control. There were no 
adequate public agencies commissioned to under- 
take the work contemplated by the chamber. 
The part that the school system should play, 
the basic principle that some Federal or state 
department should be in control and should 

38 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

take the burden of leadership, supervision, and 
direction, is hardly indicated in this plan. 

Diagram 2. — Organization Plan for Americanization Work 
of the Boston Chamber of Commerce 




"It is the purpose of the Boston Chamber of Commerce to 
harmonize rather than control the assimilation work in Boston. 
It will not be the duty of the chamber's committee to assign 
work to organizations, but to study the work they are doing, 
and to fit into the general scheme the work that will be done by 
new agencies. Once the chamber's organization has been com- 
pleted and its 4,000 to 5,000 workers placed in the field, it will be 
in a position to study the needs of each separate community. 
Where it is found that work can be done by an organization al- 
ready in existence, this organization will be asked to do the task; 
if it is unable to do it, another organization will be enlisted." — Re- 
fort of Boston Chamber of Commerce, 1918. 

The accompanying chart illustrates the na- 
tional situation corresponding to that revealed 

39 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



locally by the diagram of the Boston Chamber of 
Commerce. (See chart facing page 40.) 

NEED FOR CO-ORDINATION 

In addition to national, state, and community 
agencies promoting Americanization there exist 
a large number of semipublic and private 
agencies, a partial list of which is as follows: 

United States Chamber of Local chambers of corn- 



Commerce 

Inter-Racial Council 

Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation 

Young Women's Christian 
Association 

Young Men's Hebrew As- 
sociation 

Young Women's Hebrew 
Association 

National Catholic War 
Council 

Knights of Columbus 

National Education Asso- 
ciation 

National Security League 

Carnegie Corporation 

National Civic Federation 

Women's Christian Tem- 
perance Union 

Daughters of the American 
Revolution 

Council of Jewish Women 

American Bankers' Associ- 
ation 

It may be noted that few of the many agencies 
interested in the schooling of the immigrant 
have a comprehensive plan based on a funda- 

40 



merce and boards of 
trade 

Local women's clubs (e.g., 
Women's Municipal 
League of Boston) 

Local Americanization com- 
mittees 

Immigrants' Protective 
League (Chicago) 

Settlement houses in all 
large cities 

Labor unions 

Industrial plants 

Employers' associations 

Churches and missions 
(Protestant institutional 
activities, parochial 
schools) 

Private commercial schools 

Racial organizations 

Foreign-language newspa- 
pers 

"America First" clubs 

Good citizenship clubs 





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ii 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

mental grasp of the problem. The prospectuses 
of these organizations show little appreciation 
of the real character of the situation. Business 
men are asked to help because Americanization 
will help business; industry must aid because 
the stability of labor conditions is threatened; 
patriotic societies must come to the rescue be- 
cause patriotic societies are the guardians of 
liberty. Few of the numerous agencies appear 
to recognize the fact that the education of the 
immigrant is the business of the nation, and 
that the nation must assume its own obligation. 
Most of the interested organizations are open 
to the criticism that they are tinkering with the 
problem, urging palliatives, meeting merely a 
current need. The problem of the immigrant 
has been long with us and promises to continue 
indefinitely. We ought to have adopted funda- 
mental plans long ago; we must not longer delay. 
More specifically, what are some of the things 
that are urged by the present agencies as helpful 
in the problem of Americanization? In general, 
we find that communities are counseled to appro- 
priate more money and to open evening schools; 
business men and manufacturers are asked to 
institute classes, pay bonuses, give time from 
work and offer promotion to employees attending 
school. Social settlements are urged to conduct 
classes; women's clubs are shown where they 
can help by organizing small classes of women 
in the homes. We may note that of the two 
national public bureaus, each considers that the 
education of the immigrant is under its particular 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

jurisdiction. Each proceeds in accordance with 
this theory, to the confusion of mind and purpose 
of communities seeking direction and help. 
Neither one is in a position to offer the assistance 
needed. 

The importance of the problem of Americani- 
zation is amply attested in the expression of 
interest as well as the assumption of leadership 
by so many different agencies. In the absence 
of any one established, competent, and recognized 
authority, the attempts of all forces to proceed, 
each in its own way, are entirely understandable 
and even commendable. Some co-ordinating 
force has been needed for a long time; it was 
needed long before the war frightened us into 
agitation over the subject. To attempt longer 
to meet a large and complex problem by the 
present methods is patently impossible. To 
continue our present clamor without a funda- 
mental plan may be likened to the procedure 
of engaging in a world war with local police 
forces and state militias. As a nation we have 
recently shown capacity for effective effort at a 
critical time. We abandoned all war precedents 
in the manner in which we raised our national 
army and mobilized our navy, built ships, con- 
trolled industrial and economic forces. We need 
to do something similar on a smaller scale with 
respect to the Americanization of the immigrant. 

EFFORTS OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

It would not be just to claim that all of the 
forces enumerated in the foregoing chart have 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

failed to see the necessity of a fundamental plan. 
The Bureau of Education has urged the adoption 
of a fundamental plan, as did the Committee of 
One Hundred. It is disappointing, however, 
that all the agencies interested in the problem 
of Americanization do not unite on some one 
plan. The combination of so many influential 
bodies for one purpose should surely assure 
success. 

As opposed to the present confusion of counsel 
confronting communities seeking proper modes 
of procedure, may we not offer here a direct and 
comprehensible plan which suitable laws and 
sufficient funds would obviously guarantee? 
Fuller discussion may be reserved for a succeed- 
ing chapter. The general scheme of organiza- 
tion would be as follows: 

1. A national department or bureau of education with a 
commissioner or director of immigrant education, with or- 
ganization and support possibly like that provided by the 
Smith-Hughes Act for vocational education and methods 
of instruction standardized through co-operation with state 
educational authorities and Federal power to withhold 
subsidy where work is unsatisfactory. 

2. State boards or educational commissions, with commis- 
sioners or directors of immigrant education exercising gen- 
eral supervision, enforcing the standards required by the 
national bureau or director of immigrant education, pro- 
moting the special training of teachers for immigrants in 
the state normal schools, supervising the certification of 
such teachers, and having general oversight of the enforce- 
ment of state laws requiring the education of illiterate 
minors or the part-time instruction of non-English-speaking 
adults. 

3. City or town school boards, with directors of immigrant 

43 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

education, appointed by and working under the direction 
of local school boards or committees and superintendents 
of schools, organizing and supervising special classes for 
immigrant children in day schools, part-time day schools for 
adults, evening and factory classes for adults, home instruc- 
tion for women, special classes preparing for naturalization, 
and community centers. 

4. Semipublic and private institutions co-operating with 
commissioned public authorities, and maintaining standards 
as high as those in public institutions. 

We may now proceed to consider some of the 
undertakings and enterprises possible in the 
present situation where there is no fundamental 
plan. As indicated by the chart, there are 
national, state, community, and private agency 
programs. As is to be expected, the Bureau of 
Education has devoted great attention to the 
problem of Americanization and was perhaps 
foremost in arousing concern over the obvious 
failure to meet the situation. The reports, 
statistics, and findings of the bureau constitute 
at the present moment the best evidence obtain- 
able upon the subject. The bureau has no 
adequate funds, possesses no authority other 
than influence, and is commissioned with no 
supervisory functions in relation to education 
in states and communities. The bureau has, 
however, strongly and helpfully influenced the 
practice of states and communities in attempting 
work in Americanization. It has sent out intel- 
ligent advice to all who come in contact with the 
immigrant — the school official, the legislator, 
the employer, and the organizations of varied 
character. It has issued numerous bulletins 

44 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

showing the nature of the problem, explaining 
matters of practical procedure, such as courses 
of study, educational material, and record forms. 
Detailed model lessons have been formulated 
and counsel given as to the preparation and 
selection of teachers for immigrants. Perhaps 
the best service rendered by the bureau has 
been the reports showing the extent of the prob- 
lem of Americanization and the light efforts 
made by the whole group of agencies to effect a 
fundamental solution. Because of the limita- 
tions pointed out, the bureau exhibits a painful 
inadequacy of program when dealing concretely 
with procedure. To illustrate, we now quote 
from an official circular (September, 1918) to 
state superintendents of schools: 

The Council of National Defense, on behalf of the United 
States Bureau of Education, has requested state and local 
councils of defense, acting jointly with corresponding divi- 
sions of the Women's Committee, to create committees on 
Americanization to carry out a broad war emergency pro- 
gram of which an important part is the teaching of English. 
This joint Americanization committee in each state has 
also been designated by the Bureau of Education and the 
Council of National Defense as the central co-ordinating 
agency for all war emergency Americanization work in the 
state. 

The futility of the recommended procedure 
must be apparent; the plan proposed was not 
intelligible, so that effective results under it 
could not be expected. What a contrast to our 
procedure as a nation in undertaking the war 
program, where with authority and funds we 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

brought under government control a whole array 
of material things, such as food, fuel, shelter, 
transportation! Why should we hesitate to 
bring order out of chaos with respect to Ameri- 
canization, which affects the spirit and under- 
standing of the nation? 

PROVINCE OF THE BUREAU OF NATURALIZATION 

The Bureau of Naturalization seems to claim 
jurisdiction over the education of the immigrant. 
The general powers given to this bureau 1 appar- 
ently justify the claim. However inappropriate 
it may seem to intrust matters affecting the 
education of the immigrant to any agency other 
than an educational one, we may not blame an 
organization for attempting to exercise a power 
seemingly imposed upon it by legal enactment. 
The Bureau of Naturalization proceeds very 
much like the Bureau of Education. It has 
dealt particularly with communities, through 
superintendents of schools. The bureau co- 
operates with local school officials by sending 
to the latter the names and addresses of immi- 
grant children coming under the compulsory- 
education laws; it reports the names of declar- 
ants and petitioners for citizenship, so that they 
may be organized into evening classes for train- 
ing for naturalization; and recently (1918) 
it has issued educational material (textbooks) 
offered free for use in such classes. This bureau 



1 The Work of the Public Schools with the Bureau of Naturalization 
(Government Printing Office, 1917). 
46 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

has been especially insistent with communities 
that evening schools be organized for the educa- 
tional needs of immigrants. 

The Bureau of Naturalization makes exces- 
sive claims * as to the number of communities 
co-operating in its educational program. There 
is good ground for doubt that this bureau is mak- 
ing the educational achievement which it claims. 
The writer believes that most school adminis- 
trators are more confused than aided by the 
sudden entrance of a noneducational agency into 
the field of educational enterprise. That the 
bureau should urge the establishment of institu- 
tions for the instruction of immigrants seems 
wholly fitting; that it should assume a sort of 
educational jurisdiction over the conduct and 
character of educational institutions is wholly 
inappropriate. Schoolmen are accustomed to 
deal with the Bureau of Education, but in 
educational policies have never before been 
asked to deal with an agency extraneous to 
educational administration and organization. 
As between the two sets of educational instruc- 
tions coming from the Federal government, 
the natural tendency of school administrators 
is to deal with the educational bureau in matters 
pertaining to the education of the immigrant as 
they do with respect to other educational 
problems. 

Of the private agencies classed as national 
societies there are a number which co-operate 
closely with the Bureau of Education. The 

1 See chap. x. 

47 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

National Security League, the Committee on 
Education of the United States Chamber of 
Commerce, and the National Education Asso- 
ciation are prominent in this relation. Each of 
these associations has conducted campaigns for 
Americanization, and has made widespread ap- 
peals to its constituents to do what may be 
possible in furthering efforts to educate the 
immigrant. Since the ending of the war the 
National Security League has turned its atten- 
tion to Americanization as the foremost work to 
be done in securing the safety and welfare of the 
nation, and is now conducting campaigns for 
state and community action, by holding meetings, 
by publicity, and by circular appeal. 

A great deal of the present interest, especially 
on the part of business men, manufacturers, and 
employers of labor in general, may be due to 
these national societies. A large part of the 
current state legislation and municipal activities 
(1918-19) designed to promote the welfare of 
the immigrant is also directly traceable to them. 
The substantial result of the widespread interest 
and agitation of semipublic and private agencies 
with respect to Americanization has been the 
education of the public to the need of a program. 
Public action can take place only as the result 
of public recognition of the need. 

GROWTH OF STATE BUREAUS 

In 1915, and even earlier in some states, state 
programs of Americanization were begun. Mas- 

48 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

sachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Cali- 
fornia, and New Jersey are pioneers in the move- 
ment to make special provisions for their immi- 
grant inhabitants. At the present moment 
nearly all states with large foreign-born popula- 
tions are stirring and making effort toward a 
betterment of conditions affecting the immigrant. 
State councils of defense in such situations have 
maintained divisions dealing with questions per- 
taining to immigrant education, and they have 
done this as the result of instructions emanating 
from the National Council of Defense. It is 
impossible to predict how much of a legacy of 
action the passing councils of defense will give 
to permanent state forces. In general we find 
that certain activities undertaken during the 
war have so proved their worth that they have 
been retained into the after- war period; numer- 
ous states have transferred Americanization 
enterprises from special war agencies to perma- 
nent state bureaus. 

In Massachusetts serious and comparatively 
early attention to the problem of the immigrant 
is indicated by the appointment in 1913 of a 
special commission to report to the legislature 
in the following year. The resulting report of 
this commission presented a comprehensive and 
constructive series of recommendations concern- 
ing many phases of the welfare of the immigrant. 
This report particularly emphasized the im- 
portance of immigrant education, and counseled 
among other things the granting of state moneys 
to communities carrying on the work. Few of 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

the recommendations of the commission have 
been enacted into law, but great stimulation 
has been the result. Massachusetts to-day may 
be said to have a state program for Americaniza- 
tion assigned to the state Board of Education 
and the state Bureau of Immigration. Before 
1919 Massachusetts appropriated no money 
directly for the maintenance of classes for in- 
struction, but the Commissioner of Education 
issued bulletins containing plans and suggestions 
similar to those of the Bureau of Education at 
Washington. By means of the Department of 
University Extension teacher-training classes 
are conducted, and some state supervision is 
given to factory classes, whether maintained 
wholly by the employers' funds or jointly by 
the employer and the public-school funds of 
local communities. 

The state of New York presents a better ex- 
ample of a state program. This state appropri- 
ates money, 1 conducts teacher-training courses, 
exercises supervision, and enforces state laws 
affecting school attendance of illiterate minors. 
The action of New York is more recent than 
that of Massachusetts, and is more compre- 
hensive. 

California has won much favorable attention 
for the vigor and effectiveness of her state pro- 
gram. The California Commission on Immigra- 
tion and Housing has a program that is social 
as well as educational. The education program, 

1 For every 180 days or more of teaching during the year, $100 
per teacher is allowed; a night is reckoned as half a day. 
50 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

while in certain respects defective, in others 
is clear cut and comparatively effective. Cali- 
fornia appropriates state moneys for the educa- 
tion of the immigrant, and exercises supervision 
and advisory control. The most prominent 
constructive feature of the California plan is 
the home-teacher project, by which communities 
maintain home teachers of immigrants, one 
teacher being allowed for every five hundred 
pupils of a school district. These teachers visit 
the homes of immigrants to give instruction in 
the English language; they are expected to 
render social service as well. Patriotic societies 
sometimes defray the expense of maintaining 
home teachers, as in Los Angeles. On the 
other hand, California has no compulsory- 
school-attendance law for illiterate minors, as 
have Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New 
York. 

Whatever is being done in other states is 
largely the result of the activities of state coun- 
cils of defense (1918). These programs, under- 
taken as war measures, now show promise of 
being maintained for general welfare and are 
being turned over to permanent state bureaus 
for administration. 



VARIATION IN COMMUNITY PROGRAMS 

To attempt to describe in detail the programs 
of communities for the schooling of the immi- 
grant is obviously inadvisable within the limits 

of this chapter. Community programs are char- 
si 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

acterized by differences in range and effective- 
ness; in general, our largest cities which have 
many immigrants have definite programs and 
are giving serious attention to the problem. 
Recent reports x of the United States Commis- 
sioner of Education show many communities 
which make little or very inadequate provision 
for immigrant education; even the communities 
showing the best returns are reaching but a 
small proportion of non-English-speaking immi- 
grants. 2 

Yet our city school systems are less to be 
censured for failure to do more, than to be com- 
mended for what has been done under disad- 
vantageous conditions. The failure of the law 
to compel attendance, even for illiterate minors 
in most states, the lack of funds for this special 
work, the absence of special provisions, such as 
suitable furniture, buildings, educational ma- 
terial, the established custom of obliging Ameri- 
canization work to conform to ordinary evening- 
school routine, the conditions of employment 
for immigrant workmen which result in over- 
time work and shifts that make it impossible 
for them to attend regularly — all these conditions 
make city school programs seem somewhat abor- 
tive when viewed in the light of what would 
seem possible under favorable conditions. 

A particular cause of failure has been inade- 
quate funds. Few states grant subventions to 

1 Report of the Commissioner of Education, Department of Interior, 
1916. 

2 See chap. iii. 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

communities for evening-school work, so that 
moneys for evening schools are usually provided 
locally. It is fair to say that the school budgets 
of most communities are made up on the basis 
of the average day-school load — namely, elemen- 
tary and high schools and kindergartens. Eve- 
ning-school work is assigned to the margin of 
funds that may be available after regular needs 
are provided for; the appropriations for evening 
schools constitute but a minute part of the total 
school budget. Yet New York City was obliged 
to curtail evening-school provision for immi- 
grants in 1917. Cleveland in 1919 was obliged 
to give notice of discontinuance of evening 
schools because of shortage of funds; later 
legislation relieved the situation somewhat. 

But the public-school system has justified 
the widespread confidence reposed in it when 
given conditions fairly adequate. No system 
of schools can succeed under conditions so un- 
favorable as those now surrounding the educa- 
tion of the immigrant. All success is relative 
and many communities may be praised for what 
they have accomplished. More complete details 
of community achievements are given in Chapter 
III. 

Community efforts have been described quite 
fully in the special reports of the Commissioner 
of Education, particularly in the writings of 
two special agents of the Bureau of Education, 
H. H. Wheaton and C. F. Farrington. Two 
large cities, among the many, may be mentioned 
as having attempted particular programs of 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Americanization within the past few years — 
Cleveland and Detroit. The efforts in Cleve- 
land were stimulated by the criticisms and con- 
structive suggestions of the Cleveland Education 
Survey. Americanization work in that city 
has been described in the volume entitled The 
Immigrant and the School, in the report of the 
Cleveland survey. This account, while mainly 
critical, presents a picture of what was actually 
happening in an enterprising large American 
city. 

The example of Detroit deserves more than 
passing attention. The recent industrial ex- 
pansion of this city and the consequent coming 
in of thousands of immigrants, most of them 
non-English-speaking, 1 made the problem of 
Americanization particularly pressing. Begin- 
ning in 1915, Detroit has made a vigorous effort 
to meet the situation in which it found itself 
with the English-speaking members of the com- 
munity actually outnumbered by those of alien 
tongue. The co-operation of all influential forces 
of the community was one of the striking features 
of the movement; the Chamber of Commerce, 
the city government, the school department, 
and the churches of all denominations were 
found in active union for the common purpose 
of Americanizing all aliens. More adequate 
appropriations were secured, teachers were se- 
lected and trained, employers of labor urged 
their employees to join classes, the press con- 

1 The foreign-born population of this city increased by 300,000 
in the interval between 1910 and 1915. 
54 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

ducted a publicity campaign. The resulting 
evening-school enrollment was considered a suc- 
cess, in view of an increase in membership over 
the preceding year of 153 per cent. While this 
gain seems large and satisfactory, it must be re- 
membered that the best figures of enrollment 
represent but a small fraction of possible mem- 
bership. Detroit might have gained a 1,000- 
per-cent increase in enrollment and yet not be 
reaching a half of the non-English-speaking im- 
migrants. A similar situation obtains, of course, 
in all communities where non-English-speaking 
immigrants are to be found. 

POLICY OF FACTORY CLASSES 

Classes maintained in places of employment, 
usually called factory classes, deserve increas- 
ing attention in enumerating present agencies 
for Americanization. Broadly speaking, these 
classes are of two kinds — i.e., classes maintained 
wholly by corporations, and classes maintained 
in co-operation with public agencies. This latter 
group may be subdivided according to the degree 
in which control rests with the public or with the 
private agency. The procedure of the Ford 
Manufacturing Company of Detroit is a good 
example of a corporation school in which immi- 
grants are taught to speak English. The cor- 
poration bears the full expense of instruction 
in this school, chooses the teachers, conducts 
the courses, and controls all conditions affecting 
the work. Foremen of the plant are usually 

55 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

the teachers; the men come in their own time, 
and, while attendance is not exactly compulsory, 
the conditions are such that employees feel a 
compulsion. The Ford classes have emphasized 
the industrial efficiency aim, such objectives as 
"safety first" and ability to understand instruc- 
tions, more than the citizenship ideal. The 
company employs an efficient director of Ameri- 
canization work, and the results obtained com- 
pare very favorably with the achievements of 
similar classes, similarly conducted — namely, 
those purely under private control. As must 
invariably occur in classes of this character, too 
little attention is given to the competency and 
fitness of the teachers, who are drawn from 
industry, and too little attention is given to the 
ultimate aim of this instruction — namely, quali- 
fication for citizenship. 

Co-operative classes with the public agency 
sharing with the corporation the burden of educa- 
tion are becoming more numerous and promise 
soon to be the standard procedure. We may 
hail this tendency with satisfaction, both because 
the ultimate aim of citizenship will be held 
better in view, and again because it maintains 
the principle of public responsibility in education. 
For their own protection, employers ought not 
to invite the suspicion that the educational proc- 
ess may be diverted for the aims of capital as 
opposed to the welfare of labor. The public 
is solicitous about the freedom of the educational 
process as well as about the freedom of the press. 
We are concerned that all persons shall be 

56 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

given instruction without prejudice, even though 
unbiased information does not always result 
in correct action. The immigrant must know 
his rights from a disinterested source, and the 
public agency can make the best claim to 
disinterestedness. 

Co-operative factory classes vary greatly, 
especially with regard to the conditions under 
which employees attend them. The present 
tendency is toward giving the whole or part of 
the time for attending from the regular working 
hours, to pay bonuses, to offer encouragement 
by promotion or otherwise. The usual division 
of the financial burden is to have the corporation 
furnishing heat, light, and room, and the com- 
munity furnishing instruction, supervision, and 
educational material. 

THE Y. M. C. A. AND Y. W. C. A. 

In a consideration of the important agencies 
at present attempting programs of Americaniza- 
tion, the work of the Y. M. C. A. deserves a prom- 
inent place. This organization has made in- 
creasing efforts for the education of the immi- 
grant during the past few years. For the year 
1917 it reports having conducted 3,000 different 
classes, though the figures for enrollment and 
attendance are not published. During the war 
it was given a governmental commission to con- 
duct English classes for non-English-speaking 
selectives, and a definite part of its program 
has been the instruction in English speech of the 
5 57 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

development battalions made up of non-English- 
speaking soldiers. In addition to conducting 
classes for immigrants in its regular institutions, 
it has made a specialty of sending teachers to 
labor and construction camps where there are 
foreign born who are unable to go to established 
evening schools. It has developed a special 
method of instruction (the Roberts method), 
possesses trained teachers available for the work, 
and has funds in relative sufficiency to carry on a 
considerable program. This organization comes 
nearest to the public agencies in extent of 
influence, in the possession of experienced, 
trained forces, and established organization. 
It is more and more following the policy of 
promoting factory classes to be conducted under 
public-school authority. 

The Y. W. C. A. is conducting a similar pro- 
gram for immigrant women. This organization 
has been successful chiefly in reaching unmarried 
immigrant women and girls, and by combining 
social with educational endeavor is instrumental 
in benefiting large numbers of women not affected 
by other forces. 

Women's clubs in many communities have 
been a factor in organized work in Americaniza- 
tion. They have helped where the efforts of 
other agencies have been more or less abortive — 
namely, with immigrant women at home. Nei- 
ther the factory, the public evening school, the 
Y. M. C. A., nor any other agency, unless it be 
the home teacher, the settlement house, or the 
Y. W. C. A., has been able to meet the needs of 

58 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

the woman in the home. While it is true that 
the women's clubs have not reached any con- 
siderable proportion of these women, they have 
brought instruction to sufficient numbers to 
show the value of this endeavor. The Women's 
Municipal League of Boston conducted twenty 
classes for non-English-speaking foreign-born 
women in Boston in 1917, and the city of Boston 
has since taken over this work. These classes 
rarely ranged in membership over twenty, and 
sometimes contained but half a dozen pupils. 
The permanent contribution of the women's 
club program promises to be the organiza- 
tion of classes of women inaccessible to other 
agencies, which may be turned over to pub- 
lic forces and carried on either by means of 
afternoon sessions in public schools, or taught 
by the home teacher, as is now being done in 
California. 

The foregoing recapitulation and brief descrip- 
tion of agencies, public and private, engaged in 
Americanization work, point out some of the 
things being done for non-English-speaking im- 
migrants who are over the compulsory school age. 

A SMALL FRACTION REACHED 

It must not be forgotten that while the forces 
engaged are many, a comparatively small num- 
ber of immigrants are being reached. Detroit, 
after its tremendous endeavor to attract all 
adult non-English-speaking immigrants, had an 
enrollment in 1915 of 11,000, which was not 

59 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

much more than 5 per cent of the number who 
might have profited by attendance. 1 And yet 
the public agency, such as the evening school 
or the day school for immigrants, probably 
reaches more individuals than all other agencies 
combined. There are no means of proving such 
a statement absolutely, but it is a fair infer- 
ence from available evidence. There are few au- 
thentic records of enrollments and attendance 
for private institutions; the reports published 
by private agencies studiously avoid commit- 
ment as to actual numbers of students, but 
investigation into the comparative numbers for 
private and public agencies in our large cities 
consistently shows, in the judgment of those 
qualified to make estimates, that the public eve- 
ning schools have larger enrollment than those 
of all private agencies combined. May we 
repeat at this point that organized agencies, 
whether public or private, have had but a small 
part in the assimilation that has undeniably 
taken place; we are obliged to admit that the 
process of Americanization has been going on 
automatically rather than consciously. 

We may admit, perhaps, that we have mistaken 
agitation for achievement in the matter of really 
getting at the mass of non-English-speaking 
foreign born in our population and gathering 
them into classes for instruction. From the un- 
due amount of publicity about the term "Amer- 
icanization," the ordinary citizen may be led to 
believe that few foreign born miss the influence. 

1 See p. 54. 

60 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

This is a mistake, of course. We have been 
focusing our attention always on the numerator 
of our fraction — the number of those who are 
reached by educational agencies — and seldom 
have reflected on the size of the denominator — 
i.e., the number of those whom we ought to 
reach. As indicated in Chapter I, the proportion 
of non-English-speaking immigrants who learn 
to speak English to the extent of being enumer- 
ated in the census as English-speaking is about 
two to one. The proportion of those who 
are listed as English-speaking and naturalized 
is much smaller; the figures of the last census 
for our non-English-speaking national groups 
show from 70 to 90 per cent unnaturalized. 
Figures for naturalization cannot be taken as 
an index of ability to speak English, because 
change of citizenship is so often complicated by 
personal attitudes or political tendency. Very 
probably we may assume that the immigrant "in- 
tellectual" is as likely to reject naturalization 
as the poorly educated workingman. Apparently, 
then, we must assign to individual enterprise 
rather than to organized forces, public or private, 
the cause for the large number of non-English- 
speaking immigrants acquiring our tongue to the 
degree of being recorded in the census as Eng- 
lish-speaking. We may presume that, literate 
foreign born pick up a reading knowledge from 
the press and books, that both literate and illiter- 
ate foreign born pick up a speaking knowledge 
of our language from casual contact with English- 
speaking associates, in business or employment, 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

in social and religious organizations. In the end 
we must admit that we are talking vaguely 
when we accept the figures of the census for the 
number of English-speaking foreign born. The 
census officials conduct no tests to determine 
whether the information given to the enumerator 
is accurate or not. Massachusetts defines liter- 
acy for minors by the requirement that candi- 
dates for working certificates must demonstrate 
ability to pass the sixth-grade elementary-school 
tests; but neither the nation nor any state can 
give assurance as to the exact significance of 
census statistics relating to literacy or ability 
to speak English. 

EXTENT OP ILLITERACY IN ENGLISH 

Something of a sensation was created by the 
recently published statement of the War De- 
partment 1 that 24.9 per cent of the men of the 
draft army examined by the department's agents 
did not know enough English to read a newspaper 
or to write letters home. It was stated that of 
1,552,256 men examined, 386,196 were illiterate 
or unable to take the psychological test alpha. 
It is claimed that these figures not only discredit 
the conclusions of the 1910 census with regard 
to literacy in the United States, but cast a 
similar doubt upon the statistics regarding 
ability to speak English. Upon examination it 



1 Hearing on Smith-Bankhead Bill before the Committee on Educa- 
tion of the House of Representatives, February 15, 1919 (Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1919). 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

appears that the tests used by the War Depart- 
ment are as much open to criticism as the census 
methods, because of the lack of any uniform 
scale of measurement as a basis for the con- 
clusions it presents. Table I of the War Depart- 
ment statement indicates for twenty-eight draft- 
army stations the basis on which a man was 
adjudged literate, the number of men examined, 
the number and percentage "sent to beta" 
{i.e., the number considered unable to read 
English well enough to take the so-called alpha 
intelligence tests, which involved reading and 
writing of English), and the percentage of 
negroes in the respective groups. Perhaps the 
most striking feature of this table is its evidence 
on the lack of uniformity among the different 
stations as to the standard of literacy employed. 
For Camps Devens, Humphrey, and Lee no basis 
of testing for literacy is shown at all. t The other 
camps vary from a third-grade standard at 
Wadsworth to seventh-grade in Wheeler and 
Grant, which in the latter meant ability "to 
read and write rapidly." In seven camps the 
standard was not defined in terms of school 
grades, but simply as "read and write," meaning 
ability to read newspapers and write letters 
home in English. In a number of cases the 
standard was changed during the period covered 
by the statistics, though the number of men 
examined on each of the respective bases is not 
stated. While the War Department's statements 
undoubtedly indicate an unsatisfactory general 
level of education in our population, the sup- 

63 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

porting figures are too uncertain to warrant the 
acceptance of many of the conclusions set forth 
by army officials. 

We must be on our guard against accepting 
the startling figures commonly given by propa- 
gandists for Americanization as to the present 
numbers of our non-English-speaking immi- 
grants. In a number of instances it is claimed 
by national societies interested in Americaniza- 
tion that there are over 8,000,000 non-English- 
speaking immigrants in this country. State 
agencies, such as state councils of defense, com- 
monly publish figures which are one-quarter at 
least higher than the figures of the national 
census. There seems to be no reliable basis 
for these excessive estimates and no motive 
other than to arouse public attention to an 
unsatisfactory condition. 

However, our schools must be concerned with 
not only the speaking but the reading and writing 
of English (Map 1). The Massachusetts census 
gives a basis for estimating the still greater mag- 
nitude of the latter as compared with the former 
task. The Massachusetts census goes farther in 
analysis than does the Federal census, and pre- 
sents statistics of illiteracy in English from which 
it appears that 11.6 per cent of the population 
of that state ten years of age and over cannot 
read or write English, while 30.1 per cent of its 
foreign-born inhabitants ten years of age and over 
are unable to read or write English. In view 
of the fact that the United States and the Massa- 
chusetts census agree closely in their figures on 

64 




CZJO-9% 



1C-19 %- MB 2.0% andover 




Map 1. — Per Cent of Illiteracy in Each State in 1910 for 

A Foreign-born White Population, 10 Years of 

Age and Over 
B Total Population, 10 Years of Age and Over 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

complete illiteracy, it can probably be assumed 
that the ratio in Massachusetts of illiteracy in 
English among the foreign born to total illiteracy 
among the foreign born would not be an over- 
estimate as a ratio for the whole country. The 
Massachusetts census gives 10.9 per cent for 
total illiteracy and 30.1 per cent for illiteracy 
in English among the foreign born. The 1910 
Federal census reports as illiterate 12.7 per cent 
of the foreign-born population of the United 
States. Assuming for the foreign-born popula- 
tion of the United States the same ratio of com- 
plete illiteracy to illiteracy in English as was 
found for that of Massachusetts (10.9 : 30.1 : : 
12.7 : x), we get a percentage of illiteracy in 
English of 35.1 among all the foreign born in 
the country in 1910, or a total of 4,543,530, as 
against 2,953,011 unable to speak English. 
Illiteracy as reported for the negro (2,227,731) 
and native born (1,534,272) means practically 
the same as illiteracy in English. Combining 
these three figures to get the total number of 
persons illiterate in English, we have 8,305,533, 
which is 11.6 per cent of the population ten 
years of age and over. 

LIMITATIONS OP EVENING SCHOOLS 

After describing in outline what several of the 
more important agencies are attempting under 
present conditions, it may be profitable to con- 
sider some of the changes that may be expected 
in the future under assumed improved conditions. 

66 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

The schedule on page 43 suggests an improved 
condition of performance with legislation, au- 
thority, direction, supervision, and more ade- 
quate funds. Assuming that some or all of the 
recommended changes are brought about, what 
institutions and devices may be looked to for 
improved results? Shall we place our hope 
chiefly in the evening schools as agencies through 
which an increased and more satisfactory number 
of non-English-speaking immigrants may receive 
appropriate instruction and training for citizen- 
ship, or does some other instrument possess 
more promise? 

It is not wholly safe to make predictions on 
this matter. Pragmatic tests with various de- 
vices, such as evening schools and other institu- 
tions, alone can determine which are of largest 
value. From growing experience it would seem 
that the present newest device — namely, the 
factory class — promises a better measure of use- 
fulness. Our immigrants are workers and are 
found in largest numbers in cities and towns of 
considerable size, as employees in industrial 
plants. To educate the worker at the plant is 
like collecting revenue at the source. The eve- 
ning school has restricting factors which promise 
to limit its achievements, even though the pres- 
ent disadvantageous conditions should be much 
improved. These factors are connected with the 
inherent difficulties which working adults always 
encounter when attempting to attend evening 
schools. There are the difficulties of distance 
to be traversed, of long hours of labor with 

67 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

periods of overtime work, of shift arrangements 
of labor which limit the worker to attending only 
in alternate weeks; there is the fact of fatigue 
which succeeds a full working-day, with the 
consequent incapacity for mental effort in the 
evening; for the laborer on heavy and dirty 
work there is the inconvenience of changing 
clothes; and there is the deprivation of social 
life which the worker must accept for the sake of 
regular and frequent attendance at evening 
schools. All cities have the same experience 
with evening schools, in that large enrollments 
soon shrink to small membership and smaller 
average attendance. The most favorable figures 
indicate a retention of membership in evening 
schools not usually over one-half; the average 
is less — about one-third. 1 The critics of evening 
schools usually assign this apparent failure to 
poor teaching, poor accommodations, unsym- 
pathetic atmosphere; and there is no little jus- 
tice in this view. A discriminating judgment 
of the situation will find a more intrinsic cause 
in the fundamental social and employment 
conditions of the pupil's life. 

The factory class plan can be operated with 
none of the disadvantages of the evening school 
and with practically all of its advantages. The 
factory class can be conducted at hours before 
fatigue has rendered the learner incapable of 
interest; furthermore, the factory class obliges 
no change of apparel, involves no traveling, 
does not exclude the worker from the recreations 

1 See chap. iii. 

68 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

and associations of his leisure hours. It would 
be possible to point out many other advantages 
of larger import which the factory class could 
effect, such as the concrete demonstration to 
the worker that his place of employment is asso- 
ciated with something higher than solely the 
selling of labor and the production of goods; 
industry should feel the need of encouraging 
this latter impression. Where factory welfare 
work has resulted in a better attitude on the 
worker's part we have an instance of what we 
may expect from the extension of the practice. 
The thing we speak of as industrial unrest 
can no longer be ignored by employers or by 
anyone else. The worker will no longer be 
content to "live by bread alone." Citizenship 
is the common possession of employer and 
employee; the employer no longer hires hands, 
but employs hearts and souls. It is predicted 
that the worker will eventually have his share 
in the conduct of industry. The factory class 
is a fitting point of approach if the worker is 
to be a worthy and intelligent participator in 
the management of industry as well as a laborer 
on the product. 

THE DAY SCHOOL FOR IMMIGRANTS 

We may consider the possibilities of such an 
institution as has recently been developed in 
the city of Boston, known as the Day School 
for Immigrants. This school was instituted in 
1916 and was originally designed to meet the 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

needs of illiterate adult immigrants, the con- 
ditions of whose employment were such that 
they could not attend school in the evening. 
The original conception was in effect that of an 
evening school conducted in the daytime, which 
means practically a part-time school conducted 
like an evening school. Immigrants employed 
in hotels, restaurants, bootblacking establish- 
ments, fruit stores, etc., resort to this school. 
At the present time increasing possibilities of 
expansion and influence are being discovered. 
The school is now showing that it is an excellent 
training school for the visiting teacher who goes 
into the home to teach the mother who cannot 
go out to any school; it is a suitable institution 
with which to associate the factory-class teacher; 
it is a competent organization from which to 
draw the teacher who is sent to a regular day 
school where groups of mothers are gathered 
for instruction. These mothers often come 
with little children, who are accommodated in 
kindergartens with competent attendants. 

These are some of the results now being ob- 
tained, but the possibilities of larger service 
are also clearly recognized. One of the most 
obvious advantages is the making of the day 
school for immigrants the parent organization 
for all public-school efforts toward Americaniza- 
tion. Educators have long recognized the short- 
comings of the evening-school organization. 
Its teachers, principals, and materials of instruc- 
tion are by necessity of makeshift character; 
communities cannot afford to maintain a distinct 

70 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

group of professionally trained teachers or 
principals for evening-school work, by reason of 
the short terms, limited number of evenings, and 
short sessions. Evening schools have produced 
results worth more than their cost, but these 
results must always be limited. The day school 
for immigrants can, however, by reason of the 
varied character of its work, maintain perma- 
nently a professionally trained body of workers, 
and by assigning these teachers part of the time 
to day classes, can apportion other periods of 
their time to evening-school service. These 
teachers cannot carry the whole evening-school 
teaching burden as our work is at present organ- 
ized, but they can be assigned to important 
posts in the evening school and serve as a leaven 
for the betterment of present conditions. 

It may be objected that the day school for 
immigrants can be maintained only in larger 
communities. The answer is that large day 
schools for immigrants may be maintained only 
in larger communities, and that small day schools 
for immigrants may be maintained in smaller 
communities; the cost per unit of instruction 
need not vary materially from the large to the 
small community. It must be remembered that 
effective public agencies for dealing with the 
improvement of present conditions presuppose 
two important conditions — namely, more ade- 
quate legislation and more adequate funds. 
Further discussion of methods of surpassing 
our present admittedly unsatisfactory achieve- 
ments may well be discontinued unless we are 

71 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

prepared to face these issues. Whether we may 
expect the new laws to come from the nation 
or from the state and the additional funds from 
the communities, from the states, or from the 
nation, are matters for discussion elsewhere in 
this volume. 

IMMIGRANT CHILDREN HANDICAPPED 

This chapter has discussed the subject of Amer- 
icanization chiefly as it relates to the adult 
immigrant, who is beyond the compulsory school 
age, and usually found either in industry, as is 
the great mass of the men, or in the homes, 
as is the case with the women, who form a 
smaller group. The term "Americanization" is 
commonly understood to apply to these groups; 
it is capable, however, of a wider and truer 
application. We have suggested that the influ- 
ences and processes implied in Americanization 
apply to all inhabitants of our country, foreign- 
born and native alike. We are short-sighted, at 
least, in our present limitation of effort to adults 
alone; we should give concern to the children 
of the immigrant, and perhaps even to those 
beyond the first American-born generation. 

As has been indicated in Chapter I, we now 
make no distinction, in our methods of educa- 
tion, our courses of study, or in our general 
procedure, between the children of immigrants 
and the children of native parents. It is not 
clear at the present time just how we ought to 
differentiate our customary procedure in regular 

72 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

schools for the sake of the children of the immi- 
grant. Particular tact and judgment will be 
needed to work out a competent plan. A few 
isolated experiments are being attempted, par- 
ticularly in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and in 
Cleveland. 1 It is to our credit that in our schools 
we have never made invidious comparisons with 
respect to the children of the immigrant; we 
have received them on a basis of equality and 
made them feel that there were no distinctions 
on account of accidents of birth and economic 
condition. 

Any changes that may be made must main- 
tain these undoubtedly sound principles. Still, 
we cannot ignore the arguments for some sort 
of special educational provision for immigrant 
children. The motive is similar to that which 
has prompted us to make special provision for 
various kinds of atypical children. We wish in 
the schools to furnish an equality of educational 
opportunity; but we can no longer deny the fact 
of individual variation of powers and abilities, 
and the schools cannot bestow an equality of 
benefit through the same ministrations to all 
children; children equipped with lesser gifts 
by nature must be given more by nurture. 

If a typical children are to be prepared for 
participation in life satisfactory to themselves. 
and advantageous to society they must have 
very special training in the schools; it is for this 
reason that our schools have developed many 

1 See The School and the Immigrant, Cleveland Education Survey, 
vol. xiii. 
6 73 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

differentiations of procedure, have set up varied 
special classes for atypical pupils of all kinds. 
We assume that the majority of immigrant 
children, while normal with respect to range of 
mental capacities, do differ in social and economic 
condition from the children of families settled 
here for generations. The immigrant child 
often has distinct handicaps in conditions which 
it is the purpose of Americanization to affect 
helpfully; he frequently suffers from the handi- 
cap of a foreign language in the household, and 
often from the inexperience of his parents in the 
American environment. The same philosophy 
which justifies variation of treatment for the 
mentally atypical would justify variation in 
the case of the socially atypical child. It would 
seem in general that we ought to do more for 
him than for others not so handicapped, but 
our reason at the present time for not proceeding 
according to the logic of the situation is simply 
that we do not know what things we should or 
could do for him. In the chapter following will 
be given an account of one suggestive plan now 
being successfully applied in a city largely 
foreign in population. 

THE ARGUMENT FOR PUBLIC PROVISION 

We may conclude this chapter by further em- 
phasizing the principle that the program for 
Americanization is a public matter, to be carried 
out primarily by public agencies; when under- 
taken by any other it should be under the 

74 



PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 

supervision of public agencies. Americanization 
means uniting in a national life and government 
originally conceived as worthy, and in advance 
of others under which the mass of mankind 
were living. Once looked upon as a great experi- 
ment in human government, our democracy has 
justified the faith of its founders. To-day the 
American experiment has become the world- 
fact. Men no longer doubt; everywhere they 
imitate. But a democracy is always in danger; 
it is the one form of government that does not 
run itself. We have neglected our democracy 
by our indifference about the Americanization 
of the immigrant; the evidence of this has been 
substantial and convincing. Those immigrants 
who have come to us and live among us without 
knowing what Americanism is must be instructed, 
and instructed by teachers responsible to the 
public; and others when they come must be 
taught without delay the principles of Ameri- 
can democracy, that they may strengthen our 
fellowship rather than become a peril to our 
institutions. Let us assume this duty from a 
sense of justice and not from motives of fear. 
The just nation need not fear; but "conscience 
makes cowards of us all." 

The former vague notion that most of our 
immigrants were of inferior stock has been dis- 
sipated. Where are now the inferior races, 
after the revelations of the World War? The 
"superior race" delusion has been smitten again 
by the sword of fate — "he hath brought down 
the mighty from their seat and hath exalted 

75 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

those of low degree." The theory of democracy 
has always been opposed to the idea that races 
differ inherently in capacity for self-government. 
Americanization is nothing but democratization 
of men who feel alike but do not understand 
one another. The native and the foreign born 
are really one; Americanization is the process of 
mutual discovery of this fact. 



Ill 

PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

We shall need to revise our conception of the 
term "school" in view of the recent expansion 
of all sorts of educational forces, and the multi- 
plication of all kinds of educational instruments. 
Democracy and the educational process go hand 
in hand; the one cannot expand without increase 
of the other. To some the word "school" may 
recall the little red schoolhouse and the period 
of childhood; to another the term brings a recol- 
lection of the substantial city structure and its 
teeming occupants. In any case the picture is 
incomplete if it shows only the child and the 
youth as the natural beneficiaries of the process 
of education. We have recently sent four million 
men to school to learn the art of war; we have 
had the school for the soldier and the school 
for the officer; we are re-educating our disabled 
soldiers. We have had schools to train our 
shipbuilders and schools to train the new workers 
in war industries. We have schools for our 
firemen, policemen, and teachers, and we have 
schools for diplomats and schools for journalists. 
Revising Shakespeare's adage that "all the 
world's a stage," we may say to-day that all 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

the world is a school, and that our "seven ages" 
are spent as students in a school rather than as 
players in a drama. 

The world of the immigrant has been neither 
a stage nor a school, but usually the ditch with 
its drudgery, or the factory with its grind. A 
more detailed account of present provisions 
for the schooling of the immigrant may follow 
at this point. The public evening school, dis- 
cussed in the preceding chapter, is chief among 
all forms of provision. A letter of inquiry dated 
December, 1918, was sent by this Study to 2,404 
school superintendents of places in the United 
States having a population of 2,500 or over, as 
listed in the 1917 directory of the United States 
Bureau of Education; the letter included a 
stamped postal carrying a question as to whether 
or not the given locality afforded special educa- 
tional work for the foreign born; a second letter 
was sent on March 15, 1919, to 975 places still 
unheard from, inclosing a similar return card 
and urging reply in order that our statistics 
might be completed. Responses have now been 
received from 83 per cent of all these places. 
The detailed returns by states are given in Tables 
XXVI and XXVII found in the Appendix. 

PRESENT FACILITIES INADEQUATE 

These responses have brought out several strik- 
ing facts. If an immigrant from a non-Eng- 
lish-speaking country chooses to learn English in 
the public schools here, he must select with care 

78 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

the place of his residence in this country, for 
only one city in five has any public-schooling 
provision. It is evident from the statistics 
gathered that his chances of finding a school 
in any urban community increased 40 per cent 
from 1914-15 to 1918-19; but he also has an 
eight times better chance if he goes to a place 
having more than 1,000 foreign-born residents 
than if he goes to one having less than that 
number. If he will also pick out a place having 
a population of over 25,000, he will have about 
seven chances in ten of finding public-schooling 
provision; on the other hand, he has one chance 
in ten in a town of less than 10,000 population. 
The accompanying tables bring out these points. 

Table I shows the number of places reporting 
public provision for the foreign born for the 
school year 1918-19, with the similar reports 
for 1914-15 recorded in Bulletin No. 18 of the 
Bureau of Education. 

It is evident that there has been in general 
an increase in the number of places having 
facilities; the number has increased from 350 
places in 1914-15 to 504 in 1918-19. But more 
important still is it that an increase should be 
found in the class of places which, roughly speak- 
ing, needs it most. Although it cannot be stated 
dogmatically, in general those places having 
over 1,000 foreign-born residents can be said 
to have more of a problem than those having 
less than 1,000 foreign born. Of this class of 
cities, 318, or 37 per cent, had some work in 
1914-15, and 419, or 48 per cent, reported such 
79 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

work in 1918-19. The increase for these places 
has been greater than that in the country at 
large, but the provision may still be said to be 
only half of what is needed. 

There were ten states in the country in 1910 
whose foreign-born population exceeded 500,000. 
These states contained approximately three- 

TABLE I 

Places Reporting Public School Provision for Foreign Born 
in 1914-15 and 1918-19 by Groups of States 





In All Stater 


In 10 "Immi- 
grant" States 2 


In 38 '•Non- 
immigrant" 
States 3 


Places i 


Number 


Per 
Cent 


Number 


Per 
Cent 


Number 


Per 

Cent 


Total 


2,404 

350 
504 


100 

15 
21 


1,197 

253 
330 


100 
28 


1,207 

97 
174 




Reporting provision, 

1914-15 * 

1918-19 


8 






Foreign-born popu- 
lation over 1,000.. 

Reporting provision, 
1914-15 


868 

318 

419 


100 

37 

48 


606 

231 

287 


100 

38 
47 


262 

87 
132 


100 


1918-19 








Foreign-born popu- 
lation less than 
1,000 


1,536 

32 
S5 


100 
6 


591 

22 
43 


100 

4 
7 


945 

10 
42 


100 


Reporting provision, 
1914-15 


1918-19 








Total foreign-born 
white population, 
1910 


13,394,213 


100 


9,845,387 


74 


3,548,826 









1 Places listed in Educational Directory, Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 
IS (1917-18), Table 7. The list is made up chiefly of places with over 2,500 
population in 1910, but includes 04 places having less than 2,500. 

- New York, Pennsj'lvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, New J< rsey, Ohio, 
Michigan, Minnesota, California, Wisconsin, having over 500,000 foreign 
born in 1910. 

3 "Non-immigrant" designates states having less than 500,000 foreign- 
born population. 

4 All 1914-15 figures based on reports listed in Bureau of Education Bulle- 
tin No. 18 (1916). Table 7. 

80 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

quarters of the total foreign-born population 
of the country and included 70 per cent of all 
the places having over 1,000 foreign born (see 
Diagram 1, p 28). Table I and Diagram 3 

Diagram 3. — Increase in Number of Cities with Over 1,000 

Foreign Born Reporting Public School Provision 

for Foreign Born, 1914-15 to 1918-19 



Cities in 10 "Immigrant States" 



1914-15 



1918-19 




1914-15 



1918-19 



c 


ties in 


38 


"Non-immigrant 


States" 


335& 








67%| 








50% 








1 



Reporting Provision 



|9 ■Not Reporting Provision 

also show the number of places in these states 
having over 1,000 foreign born which report 
educational opportunities as compared with the 
number in the remaining states. By comparing 
the percentages of places reporting provision 
in the two groups of states it is evident that 
the increase from 33 to 50 per cent in the "non- 
immigrant" states exceeds that in the immi- 
grant states, where the increase was from 38 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

to 47 per cent. That is, the proportion of im- 
migrant cities where new work has begun 
during the four-year period did not increase 
in the states having the greatest concentration 
of foreign-born population as much as in "non- 
immigrant" states. The "non-immigrant" 
states show a similarly greater rate of increase 
of provision in places having less than 1,000 
foreign born. It is apparent then that at best 
the work has developed in only about 50 per 
cent of places having over 1,000 foreign born, 
and that the thirty-eight states having the 
smallest number of immigrants make the better 
showing in this respect. Need for increased 
effort is strikingly evident. The accompanying 
map (Map 2) shows for each state what per- 
centage of places, out of all localities having 
over 1,000 foreign born, report work. 

We have been discussing states and commu- 
nities classified as to numbers of foreign born. 
In Table II and Diagram 4 all communities 
having a population of over 2,500, as listed in 
the 1917 directory of the United States Bureau 
of Education, are classified in five groups on 
the basis of their percentage of foreign-born 
population, together with their reports on immi- 
grant education; in the table these five classes 
of cities are further subdivided into three groups 
according to total population. 

The same striking inadequacy of provision 
is brought out by this table with respect to 
various classes of cities as is brought out in 
Table I in relation to cities with 1,000 or more 

82 



W 

o o 







SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

immigrants. In a comparison of cities classified 
by per cent of foreign-born population, the 
"best showing is 53 per cent for the group having 
from 30 to 39 per cent foreign born — again 
only about half of the group. 



TABLE II 

Public School Provision for Foreicn Born Reported 
in 1918-19 bt Classes of Places 





Total Num- 
ber of 
Places 1 


Places Report- 
ing Provision 


Class of Place 


Num- 
ber 


Per 
Cent 




2,404 

64 

1.737 

374 

229 


504 

4 
194 
147 

159 














39 
69 








1. 052 

870 
126 
56 


50 

14 
14 
22 






















589 

430 
102 
57 


I4S 

60 
43 

42 






14 






74 






392 

257 
83 
5- 


1 56 

59 
54 
43 


40 










83 






I96 

43 


103 

42 
27 
34 






38 
64 
79 








Foreign-born pop. 40 per cent and over 


95 

58 
17 
20 


42 

18 

7 

17 


44 

31 
41 
85 








Per cent of foreign-born pop. unknown 


80 


8 


10 


Foreign-born pop. 20 per cent and over 


683 

426 
142 
US 


301 

119 
88 
94 


44 















Places classified according to census of 1910. 
84 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 



It seems conservative to say that all places 
which have a population over 20 per cent 
foreign born need to have schools for immi- 

Diageam 4. — Percentages of Five Classes op Cities Report- 
ing Public School Provision for Foreign Born, 1918-19 



60 

Percentages 
reporting 50 
provision 

40 




0-a '10-19. '20-29, '30-39 '40 and over 
Classification of cities by percent of population 
foreign-born 



\ J Reporting- provision 



Not reporting provision 

• • ■"*■ Not reporting provision 
MflHB with 20% and over foreign-born 

grants. In 1910 the foreign born were 23 per 
cent of all our urban population, so that most 
cities with 20 per cent or more foreign born 
have a percentage higher than the average 

85 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

for the country; in a few cases this would in- 
clude cities having only 500 foreign born. How- 
ever, when the foreign born comprise 20 per 
cent of the population, they impose a resposi- 
bility not to be overlooked. There are 683 
places with 20 per cent or more foreign born, 
of which 301 report schooling provision; that is, 
over four out of ten of these places have educa- 
tional facilities for the adult immigrant. Again 
we find more than half the communities in the 
United States which most need provision neglect- 
ing to make it. 

The group of cities which show the highest 
percentage of accomplishment, as has been 
stated, is that having from 30 to 39 foreign born, 
of which 53 per cent report work. That only 
44 per cent of those having a foreign-born 
population of 40 per cent and over report immi- 
grant schooling facilities is evidence of patent 
inadequacy of provision. That there should be 
any community in this country in which four out 
of ten inhabitants have come from another land 
and find no school doors open to them is sufficient 
food for thought and incentive for reform. 

In so sweeping a condemnation of communities 
for their neglect of the immigrant, the question 
immediately arises as to whether the blame falls 
equally on places of various sizes. We have 
been considering communities in five groups 
according to their per cent of foreign-born popu- 
lation. These five groups may be further con- 
sidered in three subdivisions according to size 
or total population. Table II and Diagram 5 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

show what percentages of each of these fifteen 
classes of places report provision. It is fully 
to be expected that the places of over 25,000 

Diagram 5. — Public School Provision for Foreign Born 
Reported in 1918-19, by 15 Classes op Cities 

(Squares represent the relative number of elite In IS classes) 
^3 Per cent reporting provision \ '__ JH Per cent not reporting provision 



c 




TOTAL POPULATION 


CITIES 


2.500-10,000 10,000-25.000 


25,000 and over 


I 
1 

O. 

o 

z 

I 

s 
s 

o 
z 
o 

g 


0-9* 


sBs '. . Wk 2% \ 


Wr 


■S 


io-id* 


B i4% 


B 


F*l 


20-29> 


H 


E 


|83%[ 


3T>3$* 


■pi 


F*l 


B 


40% 
and over 


r 


B* 


ia 



population will be best equipped to meet their 
problem, and reports indicate that they are; 
85 per cent of those with over 40 per cent 

87 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

foreign born and 69 per cent of all of them have 
facilities. It would be highly desirable to find 
them showing a still higher percentage, at least 
in the groups having over 20 per cent foreign 
born, where only about four out of five places 
report provision. All of these have at least 
5,000 foreign born. Even if a city of 25,000 
had a foreign-born population of only 10 per 
cent, it would have 2,500 such residents and a 
sufficient cause for provision. When only about 
seven cities in every ten having a population 
from 10 to 19 per cent foreign born report work, 
the provision still falls well below the need. 
Similar comparisons for the three sizes of cities, 
in the five groupings according to percentage 
of foreign-born population, can be made from 
Table II and Diagram 5. The evidence points 
to the fact that the immigrant who lives in a 
city whose population is less than 10,000 has 
the smallest chance of finding classes in English 
in its schools, since only about one such place 
in ten reports work. 

In Chapter IX, page 302, it is pointed out that 
Massachusetts has done more than any other state 
to compel communities with over 5,000 inhabi- 
tants to establish school work for the foreign born. 
Yet thirty-seven places with over 1,000 foreign 
born report "no provision," in response to the 
inquiry of this Study in 1918-19. In Massachu- 
setts only three cities out of every five report 
compliance with the law. In New Hampshire, 
where there is no such law, we find eleven out of 
the thirteen places having over 1,000 foreign born 

88 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

reporting provision, putting New Hampshire high 
among the states which are meeting the educa- 
tional need of their foreign-born residents. 

At the other end of the scale stands Pennsyl- 
vania, reporting work in only one place out of 
four having over 1,000 foreign born. One Penn- 
sylvania superintendent of schools writes, "We 
have a large foreign population, but no school 
for adults." Map 2 indicates that this situation 
is not an exception in this state, although lack of 
provision is by no mean^s confined to Pennsyl- 
vania. A superintendent in Ohio writes, "Noth- 
ing doing along these lines," although his city 
has a population of approximately 79,000, of 
which 25,000 are foreign born. Too often a 
negative response was received from places 
where the census figures indicate a considerable 
concentration of foreign-born residents. 

MODERATE FUNDS SUFFICIENT 

In the preceding chapter the evening school 
has been questioned as an institution which in 
itself may be expected to meet adequately the 
problem of the schooling of the immigrant. In 
this connection, a number of facts favorable 
to the evening schools ought to be presented. 
It is entirely possible for communities to set 
up evening schools with present resources. An 
estimate of the cost is based upon the figures 
of actual expenditure in communities conducting 
evening schools. Our communities already pos- 
sess buildings, equipment, and material for day- 
school use; to open these buildings in the evening 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

for a number of persons who may be persuaded 
to come occasions but a moderate additional 
outlay. There can be no doubt that communi- 
ties that must afford to conduct day schools 
can likewise afford to maintain evening schools. 
In the absence of suitable legislation and funds 
the evening school has been the only public pro- 
vision possible, and in spite of its limitations the 
public evening school has been more far-reaching 
in its influence than all the private organized 
agencies combined. 

The evening school has been sufficiently suc- 
cessful to warrant our making a better provision 
for the immigrant. The evening school likewise 
has given us experience by which to determine 
the appropriate methodology in the newer insti- 
tutions which we now see to be necessary. The 
evening school may always remain for certain 
groups the most feasible means of obtaining 
educational advantages. 

Advocates of the evening school are accustomed 
to assert that it has never had a fair chance; that, 
given more money for better teaching and equip- 
ment, far greater returns may be expected. This 
expectation is undoubtedly true, but more true 
yet may be the conclusion that the evening school 
as a thoroughgoing institution has limitations 
besides the factors of money and equipment; 
some have been enumerated in Chapter II. 

FIVE CITIES START, THREE STOP 

There is an astonishing and significant similar- 
ity between the unsolved problems of the evening 

90 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

school in communities comparatively indifferent 
about good evening schools and of those in 
communities spending great energy in these 
institutions. Communities fail in the first place 
to maintain their own interest or that of the 
foreign born sufficiently to continue the provision 
for immigrant education. The mortality rate of 
special provision for immigrants is astonishingly 



TABLE IH 

Places Reporting Public School Provision for Foreign 
Born in 1914-15, 1917-18, and 1918-19 



Period 



1918-19 



1917-18 



1914-15 



Rbpobt 



Places reporting provision 

Places reporting "no provision" 

Places reporting provision in this period, but not 

for 1917-18 

Places reporting provision in 1917-18, but not for 

this period 

Places not responding 



Places reporting provision 

Places reporting "no provision" 

Places reporting provision in this period, but not 

for 1914-15 

Places reporting provision in 1914-15, but not 

for this period 

Places not responding 



Places reporting provision 

Places reporting continuance of provision in 

1917-18 . 

Places reporting continuance of provision in 

1918-19 

Places reporting discontinuance of provision by 

1917-18 

Places reporting discontinuance of provision by 

1918-19 

Places not responding on status for 1917-18 

Places not responding on status for 1918-19 



Total number of places addressed . 
91 



No. 
504 



125 



54 

414 



433 
1,509 



71 

462 

350 

246 

258 

59 

60 
45 
32 

2.404 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

high. Table III shows what provision existed 
in 1914-15, 1917-18, and 1918-19, respectively, 
in the places to which the inquiry of this Study 
was addressed. 

Of the 433 cities reporting facilities in 1917-18, 
fifty -four places reported "no provision" in 1918- 
19, a loss of one place in eight. But this regret- 
table mortality is compensated for somewhat by 
the number of new cities establishing such work, 
125, or 30 per cent. Within a year more than 
two cities give up this work entirely to every 
five cities which start it. 



TEN CLASSES START, NINE STOP 

A similar regrettable turnover occurs in the 
total number of classes for the foreign born 
conducted in the 475 cities reporting to this 
Study for the years 1917-18 and 1918-19. 



TABLE IV 

Public Classes for the Foreign Born Reported 
tor 475 Cities in 1917-18 and 1918-19 



Reports 


Number 




3,247 




3,146 








731 




630 


Net increase in number of classes 


101 




175 




115 


Number of places reporting no change in number of classes. . 


185 


Total number of places reporting number of classes. . 


475 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 



The number of new classes was 731, while the 
previously existing number of classes which 
were not continued into this year was 630; this 
means that there were nearly nine classes dis- 
continued to every ten started. Considerable 
variation is shown in the continuation of classes 
for foreign born from city to city. For the year 
1918-19, an increase in the number of classes 
provided for immigrants was reported in 175 
cities. The following table indicates the amount 
of increase or decrease by classes: 
TABLE V 



Distribution op Increase 


and Decrease in Numbers of 


Classes in 1917 


-18 and 1918- 


19 




Amount op Increase 




NUMBEE OP 


Places 
Classes 


Report- 


or Decrease by 




INQ 




Classes 


Increased 


Decreased 


1 




58 






52 


2 




34 






20 


3 




26 






10 


4 




19 






8 


5 




6 






4 


6 




6 






4 


7 




5 






2 


8 




5 






5 


9 










2 


10 










2 


11 












12 












13 












14 












17 












21 












25 












27 












35 












39 












41 












50 












213 












Total places 


175 


115 



93 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

An increase of only one class appears for one- 
third of the cities, an increase of twelve classes 
in each of five cities, while increases ranging from 
twenty-one to forty-one classes occurred in six 
cities. For the same year decreases in classes 
were reported by 115 cities; however, a decrease 
of but one class occurred in more than two- 
fifths of the cities, decreases from ten to thir- 
teen classes appear in five cities. 

For seventy-six cities, the Study has records 
of the number of classes existing over a four- 
year period. There are thirty-four places where 
the number of classes remained about the same 
or showed slight increase; twenty-four places 
show decreases, and eighteen show various 
fluctuations. These variations in the mainte- 
nance of classes indicate, for the several cities 
studied, extreme lack of uniformity in the pro- 
vision of educational facilities for the foreign born. 

LARGE TURNOVER IN ATTENDANCE 

Attendance figures for a period of years attest 
the same impressive fluctuation. For the forty- 
four places for which figures for four or more 
years were obtained, the ratio between the 
number of places showing a decrease and those 
maintaining or increasing attendance is 21 to 8. 
For fifteen cities great varieties of fluctuation in 
attendance were reported. In one Massachu- 
setts town there was a decrease in attendance of 
80 per cent in the six years from 1913-14 
to 1918-19 inclusive, although the proportion of 
attendance to enrollment was steadily maintained 

94 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

above 80 per cent. On the other hand, in a town 
in Wisconsin, where the same high ratio of at- 
tendance to enrollment was found, there was an 
increase of 230 per cent in attendance in the same 
period. No doubt in both places special local 
causes conditioned the change in the numbers 
of foreign born coming to the evening schools. 
The important point is that in so far as numbers 
of entries in evening classes for a period of 
years could be obtained, they show no uniform 
progress either throughout the country or within 
communities during that time. In the various 
types of communities there is not only the same 
relative failure to enroll in evening classes, but 
the same disconcerting lack of persistency of 
attendance. The more efficient evening schools 
hold their students better than the less efficient, 
but not much better. 

One may set up rough laws of expectation as 
to what may happen when evening schools are 
opened in communities where immigrants are 
found in considerable numbers. Of the total 
number of immigrants whom the census returns 
designate as non-English-speaking, from 5 to 10 
per cent may be expected to enroll. This is what 
happens when a reasonable amount of advertising 
has been done in the press, in the churches, at 
the moving-picture houses, and through similar 
agencies. The actual numbers that enroll seem 
impressive, but only so when one ignores the 
numbers that fail to do so. But after enrollment 
comes the dropping out, an occurrence which is 
uniform and disheartening. The numbers of 

95 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

pupils retained at the end of the short terms, 
sixty to one hundred nights, range from 33 
to 50 per cent of all those enrolled during the 
term. This has been the experience in such 
cities as Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, 
and Cleveland, and everywhere else where con- 
ditions have been examined. The casual char- 
acter of night-school attendance is further em- 
phasized by the disparity between attendance 
and enrollment at any given time in the 
term. The great variation in the meaning of 
"enrollment" in different school systems gives 
the figures the force of suggestive evidence 
rather than of exact statistics. 

There were 140 places which returned figures 
for their enrollment and average attendance 
in the year 1918-19. The following tabular state- 
ment shows the range of such ratios: 



Ratio op Attendance 


Number 


to Enrollment 


or Places 


10 to 20 


3 


20 to 30 


10 


30 to 40 


18 


40 to 50 


16 


50 to 60 


15 


60 to 70 


17 


70 to 80 


29 


80 to 90 


17 


90 to 100 


15 


Total 


. . . . 140 



The ratio between enrollment and average at- 
tendance for these places ranges from 16 to 100 
per cent. 

CAUSES FOR LEAVING 

There is little positive evidence as to why 
evening-school students do not persevere in 

96 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

attendance. The ninth annual report of the 
Immigrants' Protective League of Chicago pub- 
lishes the results of a study made in the McAllis- 
ter School in Chicago in 1917. All the pupils 
who had dropped out from this evening school 
were visited by a representative of the League, 
and the reasons they gave for leaving school 
were tabulated as follows: 

Overtime work 26 

Night work 4 

Working hours too long for pupil to get to school . 6 

Work too exhausting 5 

Home work (among girls) 4 

No work 3 

Discouragement about school 10 

No desire to learn English 3 

Illness or family circumstances 18 

All other reasons 22 

Pupils not found (incorrect addresses given) .... 28 

Total 129 

It will be observed that reasons not relating 
to the school are given in the majority of in- 
stances. There is little statistical evidence to 
show that the school has failed to meet the needs 
and expectations of the students, a common 
assumption made by most critics of the evening 
schools. Chapters V and VI discuss the causes 
of failure within the evening school. It should 
be noted, however, that there would be similar 
causes for failure in the day schools were not the 
pupils obliged to attend. 

We have expected too much of the evening 
school. In our search for the causes of failure 
we have usually brought indictment against 
either the evening school or the immigrant. 

97 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

There is good cause to assume that the charge 
is to be laid upon neither of these. More care- 
ful study of causes points to the conclusion that 
the evening school by its nature cannot be an 
institution completely adapted to the needs of 
the majority of immigrants, and conversely, 
that the majority of immigrants find it impos- 
sible to use the evening school as their means of 
education. 

The best that can be said of the evening school 
is that it promises to continue to be the chief 
public means of providing education for the im- 
migrant as long as we are restricted by our 
present laws and financial resources; that it is 
far better to maintain this partial facility than to 
maintain none; that in the aggregate a con- 
siderable service is rendered, and that when 
other and more competent provision is made 
the evening school will still remain for some 
individuals the most suitable agency of education. 

SOCIAL SUPPLEMENTS 

We still need to improve our evening schools, 
to provide more adequate pay for teachers and 
executives, to furnish more suitable texts and 
material, to extend the school year, to better 
our systems of grading and promotion. Chap- 
ters V, VI, and VII will deal further with these 
points. Particularly, we need to take into con- 
sideration the kinds of appeal that are effective 
with the foreign born. We now make the 
mistake of assuming that the immigrant comes 

98 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

to the school simply to receive instruction. In 
general, the immigrant is a more social being 
than is the native, but we are inclined to assume 
that what suits the native is pleasing to the 
foreign born. The efforts which New York and 
Pittsburgh make to socialize their evening schools 
for immigrants are significant and suggestive for 
other cities; in these cities the usual instruction 
for foreign born in English and other common 
branches is combined with recreation, play, 
dancing — in other words, it is a socialized scheme 
of schooling. Increased interest, achievement, 
and persistence are concomitant results. 

PUBLIC CONTROL OF FACTORY CLASSES 

Let us renew the consideration begun in Chap- 
ter II of the possibilities for better educa- 
tion of the immigrant in the device known as 
the factory class. There is much agitation for 
the organization of factory classes, and many 
are being established, but as yet they do not 
rival the evening school. It now seems certain 
that we shall see a substantial development of 
the factory class in the immediate future. In 
Massachusetts, where the evening school has 
had its longest history and its limitations are 
fully recognized, the state Board of Education 
and the state Bureau of Immigration have 
joined forces to encourage the development and 
expansion of factory classes. A table which 
displays their plan for classes held in co-operation 
with industrial plants is included in the following 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

excerpts from the Massachusetts Federal-state 
program for immigrant education, entitled, 
" Suggestions for the Organization of Classes for 
the Teaching of English." 

The teaching of English is the first step in the process of 
Americanization. Since Americanization is essentially a 
problem of education, all classes organized for this purpose 
should be under the direct supervision of the public-school 
authorities. Many agencies are interested in the task, but 
public schools are nonpartisan, nonecclesiastical and be- 
long to all the people. It is for this reason that the work 
of Americanization should be performed under their direc- 
tion, whether the work be supported by public or private 
agencies. 

The following table will show tne great variety of co-oper- 
ative plans which are possible. A workable plan adapted 
to the needs of any local situation can be worked from these 
tables. 



Classes Held in Co-operation with Industries 


A 

Location 
of Class 


B 

Class 
Held in 


C 

Class 
Held 
During 


D 

Cost of 

Instruction 

Paid by 


E 

Supplies 

Furnished 

by 


F 

Supervision 

by 


i. In fac- 
tory 

2. In rooms 

3. In public 
schools 


1. Employer's 
time 

2. Part em- 
ployer's and 
part employ- 
ee's time 

3. Employee's 
time 


1. Forenoon 

2. Afternoon 

3. Evening 


1 . Local school 
department 

2. Employer 

3. Private 
agencies 

4. Employees 

5. Unpaid vol- 


i.Localschool 

department 

2. Employer 

3. Private 

agencies 


Public official 
designated 
by local 
school 
board 



Example: A-l +B -1 +C -2+D-l +E-1+F indi- 
cates a class held in the factory in the employer's time in 
the afternoon, having an instructor and supplies furnished 
by the local school department, and under the supervision 
of an official designated by the local school board. 

Example: A-2+B -2+C-2+D-5+E-H-F indi- 
100 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

cates a class held in rooms near the factory, partly in the 
employer's time and partly in the employee's time, in the 
afternoon; that is, say, from 4 :30 to 5 :30 for a factory whose 
closing hour is 5 :00, with unpaid volunteers supplying the 
instructor and the local school department furnishing the 
supplies and supervisor. 

The plan offered by Massachusetts must be 
understood as a table of alternative combina- 
tions and as such is sound and practical, assum- 
ing that additional funds may be forthcoming 
from the nation or state to make it possible for 
the community to undertake the additional ex- 
pense. The state of New York has adopted this 
policy. Let it be remembered that there are at 
present no national funds for the teaching of 
English to the foreign born, and few states offer a 
subsidy. Massachusetts at present expects the 
local communities to raise all funds for educa- 
tional purposes except for industrial education of 
immigrants over twenty-one years of age, so that 
this state, and the majority of others, cannot 
undertake extensively an educational project 
which draws upon the funds intended exclu- 
sively for the education of the children, for the 
instruction of considerable groups of adults. As 
a practical result of these limitations there is 
little choice possible. Under these conditions, if 
factory classes are to be established generally, 
they must be undertaken by employers. 

It is expected that industrial managers will 
invite the supervision of public authorities over 
classes maintained by industrial establishments. 
That such supervision could effectively influence 

101 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

courses of study, methods of teaching, and use 
of materials seems beyond expectation; never- 
theless, the principle of public supervision of 
factory classes is worth conserving while we are 
waiting for the more fundamental one of public 
operation to become feasible. 

Our present course in developing methods of 
administration for schools maintained by indus- 
trial plants is characteristically American. We 
begin with a "going concern" and proceed to 
add piecemeal one improvement after another; 
the ready-made, perfected institutions have 
found little favor in our country. We are in 
the earliest stages of the factory class; but we 
are rinding out what to do, and what we need 
in order to carry out our maturing plans. In 
general the answer to the query as to what we 
need, is legislation and funds. 

What are the shortcomings under which fac- 
tory classes labor at present? First, the classes 
themselves exist only sporadically, though every 
industry employing fifty or more non-English- 
speaking adults should maintain such classes, 
unless the community offers some competent 
and available equivalent opportunity. Com- 
pulsory attendance except for minors is not 
recommended, but the opportunity to attend 
should be furnished. Second, the teaching 
should be guaranteed by public authorities as 
to quality; at present there is necessarily faulty 
work where trained teachers are not provided; 
suitable classrooms are often lacking, and the 
materials for instruction are not well selected. 
102 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

The Massachusetts state Board of Education, 
through the agency of the state Department of 
Educational Extension, has endeavored to meet 
the lack of ideal conditions under which classes 
may be maintained in industrial plants by a 
variety of devices. In particular, training classes 
for teachers of non-English-speaking adults have 
been organized and conducted on the short-unit 
basis. The plan assumes that nonprofessional^ 
equipped persons, such as foremen in factories, 
can be made into acceptable teachers for the 
particular purpose, by means of short-time 
intensive training. We shall question this as- 
sumption in succeeding chapters, but are willing 
to concede that the lightning-trained teacher is 
better than no teacher. The department in 
addition has formulated detailed lesson sheets 
containing industrial, social, and civic vocabu- 
laries, which are believed to guarantee fair results 
when used by specifically trained teachers. 

Under these conditions, because of the benefit 
accruing to industry through the immigrant, 
the beneficiary is asked to assume a burden not 
customarily put upon productive enterprise. 
The effort has met with some response, not wide- 
spread, but sufficient to show two things: first, 
that defensible results may be obtained by means 
of a hasty progress; second, that many industries 
show an appreciation of civic co-operation, social 
betterment, and a sense of responsibility for the 
citizenship of their working forces. 

Evidence is accumulating that with moderate 
funds much may be accomplished. Let the 

103 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

state, aided by the nation, furnish a substantial 
subsidy and commission the community to 
assume the new educational responsibility. The 
community may then proceed to furnish suitable 
teachers, educational material, courses of study, 
and means of supervision. The employer should 
be required to co-operate to the extent of furnish- 
ing the place of instruction and of arranging 
the hours of his workers so that they may con- 
veniently attend the classes. Since industry 
may be expected to benefit materially in the way 
of better service, fewer accidents, less misunder- 
standings, and reduced labor turnover, we may 
expect industrial concerns to encourage their 
workers to attend classes, by payment for the 
time spent in classes or by other effective means. 
We may, furthermore, expect industry to help 
from purely altruistic motives; industry, too, 
is a public trust and accountable for its influences 
upon the citizenship of those constituting its 
organization. 

The inequalities of the present educational 
provision is the chief reason why we must not 
remain content with it. To the present con- 
stitutional guaranty given each individual — 
"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" — 
we may properly add another — namely, the 
opportunity for education. That one individual 
should have this crowning right in comparative 
abundance and another not at all is a situation 
which can no longer be defended. We have seen 
that about one community in two, where there 
are large numbers of non-English-speaking im- 
101 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

migrants, possesses evening schools, institutions 
which in themselves are limited. The percent- 
age of industries maintaining factory classes 
has never been computed, but we know that the 
proportion is so small that the great number of 
immigrant workers in industry are unprovided 
for. New York, Chicago, and Cleveland have 
done most in this field. Somehow, somewhere, 
every non-English-speaking immigrant should 
have an opportunity for education; until this 
is furnished we have no moral right to institute 
legislation compelling the immigrant to possess 
that which he has little opportunity to acquire. 
Let us multiply opportunities, and if the immi- 
grant then still resists we shall have some reason 
to consider compulsion. 

Let us, however, be fair to those industrial 
leaders who have been far-sighted enough to 
furnish what the public has failed to provide 
adequately. The employer may not have been 
wholly altruistic in establishing these provisions, 
but he is deserving of credit for attempting 
something that is in part without assurance of 
financial profit. An instance of the concrete 
satisfaction which manufacturers have experi- 
enced in undertaking educational programs is 
illustrated in excerpts from a reply to an inquiry 
of this Study, which is typical of many others. 
This letter is chosen because it illustrates several 
important features — namely, the experimental 
character of the work, the difficulties encountered, 
the methods used, and some of the results 
obtained. 

8 105 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

October 10, 1918. 

Study of Methods of Americanization, 
576 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 

Gentlemen, . . . We took up this work a year ago and 
during the past year have conducted two Americanization 
classes among our foreign-speaking workingmen. Teachers 
were provided by the Board of Education. The course of 
instruction followed was laid out by the board with special 
reference to the nature of the work. The interest shown 
by the workingmen was such that, whereas at the inception 
of the classes we intended to hold but two sessions a week, 
we, at the request of the pupils themselves, held five ses- 
sions per week throughout the term, and the attendance 
throughout held up in a satisfactory manner, and the in- 
terest among the men who benefited by the classes was 
marked. 

As a preliminary inducement toward getting our men to 
accept this opportunity we informed our workingmen (at 
our Cleveland plant) that we would be willing to share one- 
half the burden of their instruction by paying them regular 
wage rates for one-half the time spent in the classroom, 
and this plan has been followed up to this time. 

We were rather disappointed at the beginning by finding 
a considerable proportion of our foreign-speaking workmen 
rather indifferent to the question of education, although we 
endeavored to explain to them that it would be very diffi- 
cult for them to absorb American ideas and ideals unless 
they were able to both speak the English language and 
read the public press printed in the English language. . . . 

We have now organized for the fall and winter along the 
same lines as were followed out last spring and summer. 

Our chief difficulty was in providing a suitable location 
for the school sessions, where the men could attend without 
loss of time, and we accomplished this by setting up a class- 
room in the plant. The night men attended a one-hour 
session before reporting for work, and the day men had 
their session at the close of their day's work. . . . 
106 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

WORKING WITH IMMIGRANT SOCIETIES 

Profitable co-operative relations, similar to those 
established between public educational agencies 
and industrial organizations, are being formed 
by the public schools with the immigrants' own 
organizations. It is coming to be a common 
occurrence for trade-unions, especially in certain 
industries which have foreign-born workers, to 
create educational committees whose function 
is to work out an educational program to meet 
the needs of its members. In several cities, 
co-operative relations have been established with 
the local boards of education, and classes in 
English have been carried on jointly. The most 
extensive work of this kind has been done by the 
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 
in conjunction with the New York City Board 
of Education. For two years an arrangement 
has existed whereby the union provides the 
attendance in classes for English and other 
broader subjects, which meet in the school 
buildings, in charge of teachers supplied by the 
school board. In 1918-19 there were nineteen 
such English classes maintained in four public 
schools, with an aggregate average attendance 
of 570. This is a small proportion of the evening- 
school attendance in the New York schools, 
but the good will and co-operation of the workers 
are not measured by numbers and are assets 
not to be overlooked; the school must make 
use of any spontaneous and self-initiated efforts 
to get instruction in English, and it may be 

107 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

possible that attendance can be got and main- 
tained in this way where no other method would 
succeed. 

The educational director of the Ladies' Gar- 
ment Workers' Union points out that the union 
holds a strategic position in relation to the 
education of the workers. 

The shop plays the same social role in the life of the adult 
worker as does the school in that of a child. In it he finds 
his group, his center of social gravity, his chief point of 
interest. 

If this theory is tenable, the union has a peculiar 
position in relation to educational work among its 
members. If it forms the natural and cohesive 
group, to which the workers look automati- 
cally and with confidence, it can have a con- 
siderable influence in adult education. Similar 
co - operative relations are also being estab- 
lished with other organizations in which the 
immigrants' leisure-time activities and interests 
center. 

The function of this chapter is to discuss public 
institutions for the Americanization of the im- 
migrant. The preceding pages have set forth 
the case of the evening school and of classes 
held in places of employment and in co-operation 
with the immigrants' own organizations. We 
have by no means completed the category of 
needed institutions if we are to provide for 
every individual who requires an adequate op- 
portunity for elementary education. Literacy, 
at least, is the right of every individual, and 
it is a debatable question whether the state 

108 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

may not demand literacy of adults, as the 
right of the state; the state, however, is in 
no position to set up a demand until it has 
made provision for meeting it. 



CONNECTING HOME AND SCHOOL 

The illiterate or non-English-speaking woman 
in the home is not reached with any surety 
through either the evening school or the factory 
class. Throughout the country it is found that 
foreign-born women are not found in industrial 
employment in the same proportion as are 
foreign-born men, so that the factory class will 
not reach the majority of foreign-born women. 
Evening schools uniformly are made up of males 
in undue proportion. We may only suggest 
the reasons for this situation., Certain Old 
World races disapprove of the woman leaving 
the home to appear in public places; their women 
marry early, have large families, and usually 
cultivate a deeper home life than do native 
women. 

If the foreign-born woman is to be furnished 
educational opportunity, we shall need to devise 
additional agencies for the purpose. The prob- 
lem of the immigrant woman in the home is the 
most difficult one confronting Americanization 
forces to-day. Mention has been made of the 
use of the home teacher, originating under public 
auspices in California; this project, however, 
is to-day scarcely more than a name and a hope 
elsewhere. No one has attempted to define 

109 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

what shall be the technique of the home teacher. 1 
All sorts of difficulties appear. There is the 
question of expense: to teach individuals in their 
homes would take a great many teachers and 
involve a per capita expense far in excess of 
the cost of the group teaching hitherto carried 
on. How shall the home teacher gain access 
to the home — a difficulty by no means imaginary? 
Then again, the immigrant home with its many 
children, boarders, relatives, presents unpromis- 
ing conditions for instruction. The home teacher 
would seem to work to greater advantage by 
persuading the women in the home to attend 
convenient classes held during the day in some 
neighboring school, and to follow up attendance 
at such classes. The home teacher ought surely 
to visit the homes of immigrant women and to 
persuade attendance at classes especially ar- 
ranged; she may be of substantial service in 
aiding immigrant women to learn about American 
conditions of living, in giving instruction about 
the care of children, and in solving the difficulties 
encountered by women placed in a strange 
environment. At the best there will always be 
many women who by reason of family cares 

1 The State Commission on Immigration and Housing of Cali- 
fornia has this to say of the home teacher in its Manual for Home 
Teachers: 

"The home teacher, as we conceive her purpose, seeks not pri- 
marily the special child, though that will often open the door to 
her, and afford her a quick opportunity for friendly help, but the 
home as such, and especially the mother who makes it. This dis- 
crimination as to aim and purpose cannot be too much emphasized, 
or too consistently maintained; for the care of abnormal children, 
important as it is, can by no means take the place of the endeavor 
to Americanize the families of the community." 
110 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

cannot attend any organized classes. Where 
there are infants or very small children the mother 
can neither take them with her nor leave them 
behind. The futility of drastic compulsory- 
education laws applying to all immigrants must 
be recognized in view of the possibilities of com- 
pliance in the case of mothers of families. In 
recognition of such conditions the Massachu- 
setts legislature amended the compulsory illiter- 
ate-minor law in 1913 to exclude married females, 
who were formerly included. 

The home-teacher project is too valuable to 
be abandoned merely because unforeseen diffi- 
culties have been encountered. The home 
teacher can be an influence for the Americaniza- 
tion of women in the home, where no other agent 
can be so effective; and even though she does 
not teach the mother English, the home teacher 
can demonstrate by action and friendliness the 
benign intent of the state in offering helpful 
services to all strangers who have come among us. 
There is much social service which the home 
teacher can perform, such as explaining to im- 
migrant mothers the laws and customs of Ameri- 
can life, the school-attendance requirements for 
children, the meaning of report cards sent from 
the school, the existence and location of public 
baths, libraries, dispensaries, clinics, and many 
other institutions intended for the comfort and 
pleasure of their families. There is no reason 
why public agents should not perform in part 
these functions which hitherto have been con- 
sidered to be wholly in the field of social service 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

and carried on by social workers. It is to be 
noted that there is a growing tendency to place 
public agents in this field; it is the reluctance 
of the public to recognize the extent of its 
obligations that has made it necessary for private 
agencies to dominate this department of service. 
The performance of social work by the home 
teacher may not displace the private worker, 
but it may supplement and make more far- 
reaching the good will and assistance which 
everywhere should be extended to the immi- 
grant. There is one advantage in assigning 
social service to the home teacher instead of to 
the social worker: the private agent's concern 
with the home suggests charity or patronage, 
and sometimes gives offense; the public agent 
represents a service which may be claimed as a 
right and not a favor. Furthermore, the public 
agent is freer from suspicion of any possible 
ulterior motive. 



DAY SCHOOL, CENTER OF SYSTEM 

At this point we may proceed to point out 
further advantages of the day school for immi- 
grants discussed in Chapter II. The day school 
for immigrants may be described as something 
similar to a holding corporation for a number of 
subsidiary enterprises, such as the factory class, 
the day class for mothers, the class for employed 
adults who cannot attend evening school, and 
the evening-school class. There may be con- 
siderable doubt as to whether the home teacher 

112 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

should be attached to the regular day school 
in the immigrant district or to the day school 
for immigrants. From the point of view of or- 
ganization and environment, the choice at present 
would seem to fall upon the day school for im- 
migrants. The home teacher will secure largest 
returns in her educational task by bringing the 
immigrant mother into a convenient mothers' 
class, and this is an additional reason why she 
should be the agent and representative of the 
day school for immigrants. It will depend upon 
the development of the function of the home 
teacher whether she becomes an instrument 
primarily for education or for social service. 
Americanization, of course, means both influ- 
ences, though the question of proportions is still 
undetermined. In the past we viewed the edu- 
cational function as of larger importance, but 
increased experience is showing us that instruc- 
tion in English is but one of the factors in the 
process of national unification. 

The day school for immigrants should have a 
principal or director who is a specialist in Ameri- 
canization, and who may devote attention ex- 
clusively to the one problem, as do principals 
and directors of other special phases of work 
in our public-school systems. The country 
to-day contains almost no examples of such 
organization. The last report of the Commis- 
sioner of Education contains no instance of a 
clear-cut assignment of the functions concerning 
immigrant education to one executive. A num- 
ber of cities report having directors "of evening 

113 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

schools, but detailed inquiries almost invariably 
bring out the fact that the director of immigrant 
education is at the same time an elementary- 
school principal, as in Rochester, New York, 
or an assistant superintendent with other and 
usually many assignments. Boston has a special 
director of evening schools of all types and of 
immigrant education; Los Angeles has a super- 
visor of immigrant education. 

We may again call attention to the opportunity 
presented in the day school for immigrants for 
maintaining a distinct and professional corps of 
teachers whose function is solely part-time 
education for non-English-speaking immigrants, 
native illiterates, and adults with defective 
elementary education. The evening high school 
is a distinct and separate problem; on the other 
hand, all part-time instruction of academic grade 
below the high school may best be the function 
of the day school for immigrants. Since this 
school is operated throughout the day (morning, 
afternoon, and evening), full-time assignments 
to teachers may be made, so that the per capita 
expense of instruction need not exceed the pres- 
ent cost of high-school instruction. 

The term "day school for immigrants" is 
practically unknown throughout the country, 
and the practice implied is not less so. This fact 
may justify more specific description of the 
single instance existing in Boston. The director 
of evening schools of Boston is likewise in charge 
of the day school for immigrants. As stated 
previously, this institution was the result of the 

114 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

extension of the idea of part-time education into 
the day period for considerable groups of adults 
who were engaged in evening employments, such 
as work in hotels, restaurants, theaters. The 
day school for immigrants was not an invention, 
but rather a discovery, for it was not deliberately 
planned to perform what has now become its 
function. The first teachers assigned to the 
Boston school were selected and trained from 
the staff of the continuation school, a part-time 
school for working boys and girls between 
fourteen and sixteen years of age. The back- 
ground which the continuation-school teacher 
brings to the problem of the education of the 
immigrant is not inappropriate. The part-time 
teacher deals with people who are not primarily 
school pupils, but chiefly wage earners or home 
makers. The similarities of procedure in the 
continuation school and in the day school for 
immigrants are more significant than are the 
differences. The continuation-school teacher 
needs, in addition to her general background, 
special training in methods of teaching English to 
foreign born; but the transition to the new task 
is far easier for her than for the regular day-school 
teacher. It is not at all impossible to predict 
that our present evening schools for immigrants 
will become evening classes of the day school for 
immigrants, a lesser instead of a greater agent 
as at present. 

The weakness of organization of the present 
evening school is the temporary and makeshift 
character of its personnel. The teachers in most 

115 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

instances are day-school teachers rendering ser- 
vice over and above the usual burden of day- 
school work; the principals are either day-school 
executives or professional men of the community. 
If our expectation works out — namely, that the 
evening school in the future will not overshadow 
the day classes of one type or another — then it 
will be perfectly possible for all the teachers and 
executives needed in the evening classes to be 
members of the parent organization — namely, the 
day school for immigrants — and, consequently, 
all our workers in evening schools may be trained 
specialists working in the evening as a part 
of a normal assignment. Up to the present there 
seems to have appeared no practical solution to 
the fundamental difficulties inherent in the eve- 
ning school. Our plan consists in reducing the 
evening school to a subordinate position in a 
larger organization and in supplying teachers 
and executives, not from the day-school force 
as overtime workers, but from the larger organi- 
zation, the day school for immigrants, as regular 
workers meeting a normal assignment. This 
plan appears not only educationally desirable, 
but economical. 

In setting forth this conclusion it is assumed 
that we are to set about seriously to make 
adequate provision for the schooling of the im- 
migrant, which involves additional legislation 
and more adequate funds. We need fear neither 
the necessity of drastic legislation nor that of 
largely increased appropriations. As has been 
stated, our evening-school appropriations do not 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

exceed 1 per cent of the total appropriations for 
all school purposes, as shown in the school 
budgets of cities like Boston, New York, and 
Los Angeles. More than half the communities 
having considerable immigrant populations have 
no evening schools and spend nothing; those 
which do maintain evening schools spend an 
infinitesimal amount. If all the communities 
where the need exists would appropriate an 
amount equal to 5 per cent of the total school 
appropriation, everything here recommended 
could be carried out effectively. It is doubtful 
whether the evening school needs for its main- 
tenance a sum exceeding 1 per cent of the total 
school budget. In view of the limited number 
of immigrants who can attend, and of the essen- 
tial limitations of the evening school as an in- 
stitution for Americanization, it is not feasible 
to spend large sums of money for this purpose. 
If Americanization is worth attempting at all, 
the public ought not to hestitate to provide the 
moderate funds necessary. 

CITIZENSHIP TRAINING FOR CHILDREN 

The discussion up to this point has dealt with 
institutions for the education of adults; we 
must proceed now to deal with public institutions 
designed for the education of children. The 
most significant potentialities for the citizenship 
of the nation must be sought in the education 
of the children. We may, by educational influ- 
ences, effect some changes in the habits and dis- 

117 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

position of the adult, and what we are able to do 
in this direction is worth while; but we can build 
far more fundamentally and enduringly in the 
character of the child. 

Most of our immigrants are either adults or 
above the compulsory school age. It is natural, 
then, that in discussing educational institutions 
designed to meet the needs of the immigrant we 
deal chiefly with part-time and supplementary 
forms of education suitable for employed adults. 
Children of immigrants young enough to come 
under compulsory-school-attendance laws go 
to the regular schools. The methods of treating 
non-English-speaking immigrant children in pub- 
lic schools vary by communities, but not enough to 
make it possible to say that we treat immigrant 
children differently from the way in which we treat 
native children. There is general agreement in 
the practice of progressive communities in group- 
ing older immigrant children in special classes for 
intensive work in English, in order that they may 
acquire the common tongue as a tool for work 
through which they can be advanced rapidly 
to classes of children of their own age. Many of 
our larger cities maintain what are known as 
"steamer classes," or "special English classes," 
where this program is carried out; this procedure 
is found in cities like New York, Boston, Detroit, 
and Cleveland. There is much evidence of the 
continuance in some communities of the bad 
practice originally in vogue in all cities — namely, 
the grouping of non-English-speaking children 
of all ages and degrees of maturity in the lowest 

118 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

grades of the schools, on the assumption that 
they could more suitably or more economically 
be given instruction in English in this manner. 
This practice is demoralizing to the children who 
actually belong in the lower grades and dis- 
couraging to the immigrant child, who may 
naturally fail to feel a spontaneous affection 
for American institutions in the unfavorable 
school environment into which he is forced. 
It would not be an unnecessary safeguard to 
require by legislation that communities make 
special provision for gradation of immigrant 
children in the schools, after the present practice 
of the cities commended above. 



THE LAWRENCE PLAN 

There are instances of communities attempting 
more ambitious plans than special classes for 
non-English-speaking children. The city of 
Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1918 organized a 
whole elementary -school district around the idea 
of giving the pupils a distinctly superior training 
in citizenship. Lawrence is one of the most out- 
standingly immigrant cities in the nation; the 
industrial strife that has focused public atten- 
tion on this city during recent years is sufficient 
evidence of the need of energetic attention to the 
quality of citizenship in this community. Many 
of the causes of unrest may be purely economic — 
low wages and poor living conditions; but again, 
much of it undeniably is due to the sudden 
accumulation of a population that is non- 
119 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

English-speaking and unassimilated. The city 
of Lawrence, consequently, presents an appro- 
priate situation for a determined experiment in 
Americanization, with the method of approach 
through the children in the schools. 

The Oliver elementary school of Lawrence, 
comprising 1,400 children, has been chosen for 
this educational experiment in Americanization. 
It must not be assumed that the children attend- 
ing this school are mostly non-English-speaking; 
they are, in fact, in large part native born of 
foreign parentage. The purpose of the plan is to 
give a more effective training in American citizen- 
ship than is given in the typical public school. 
The experiment is particularly significant because 
of our consciousness that while we have appreci- 
ated the importance of good citizenship as a 
fundamental school objective, we have not 
specifically shaped the influences of the school 
to this end, as has been indicated in Chapter I. 
What Lawrence is attempting may be a forward 
step which all public schools should undertake; 
the growing tendencies in American life give 
increasing justification for such a procedure. 

We may quote from the stated aims of those 
conducting the experiment in Lawrence: 

The Lawrence plan was born of our belief that every 
schoolboy and schoolgirl in the country ought to know and 
appreciate the privileges and duties of being a good Ameri- 
can. We aim to teach the sacrifices and achievements of 
our forefathers in founding our democracy, to point out the 
promises of our future as well as its perils, and to warn of 
the grave menaces to democracy which confront us to-day. 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

To achieve these aims it is proposed not to 
substitute a new curriculum for that in common 
use, but to permeate all subjects in the curric- 
ulum with a spirit of Americanism. No radical 
reorganization of the school will be attempted, 
but a new emphasis on training for citizenship 
will be set up. The director states that 

citizenship wiJl give new life and meaning to the everyday 
work of the school. The subject of history, as an instance in 
point, will be taught not merely for its facts, but for its 
values, and those values which emphasize American life 
and ideals. 

The subject of civics will be given a new im- 
portance and taught not merely through text- 
books, but by stimulating the spirit of devotion 
to the community, the school, the home, the 
neighborhood, and places of employment. Litera- 
ture and music will be taught not merely to 
acquaint pupils with authors and their works, 
but to arouse enthusiasm for the higher values 
of human devotion, aspiration, and sacrifice, 
particularly for those things which the American 
spirit holds dear. The directors of the school 
hope to vitalize other subjects of the curriculum, 
such as arithmetic and science. It is hoped that 
health subjects, physiology, and hygiene can 
be made to arouse a truly American zeal for 
bodily strength and vigor. 

The life of the school itself is to illustrate the 
practical workings of democracy: 

The school that teaches the principles of democracy 
should be itself a democracy. The child learns how to be 
a good citizen by being a good citizen. The life of the 
9 121 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

school should give free play to common interest and com- 
mon action for the common good. The school must train 
in initiative, in self-control, in respect for liberty under 
law. 

It cannot be said that the Lawrence plan is 
wholly distinctive, nor do the directors of the 
institution make claim of this. Thousands of 
public schools throughout the nation will be 
found to be pursuing plans somewhat similar. 
The Lawrence plan, however, does place more 
emphasis upon Americanism and specific ideals 
of citizenship than is found elsewhere. The plan 
sets about capitalizing deliberately the current 
appreciation of the need of a better Americanism 
and a higher ideal of citizenship ; love of country, 
instead of being the background of school effort, 
has been made the dominant, central idea. 



LEADERSHIP IN A NEW WORLD 

The war has brought a new spirit of devotion 
and enthusiasm into the public-school systems 
of the nation. The Lawrence plan is but one 
instance of the fact. Scarcely a state legislature 
in session during the past year has not been con- 
sidering a comprehensive bill for the reorganiza- 
tion and improvement of public education. The 
nation, too, is reflecting the popular interest in 
educational matters, and a number of bills 
vitally affecting public education are pending 
before both branches of Congress. For the 
first time in our history as a nation we are 
seriously considering some kind of nationaliza- 

122 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 

tion of education. The recent example of Eng- 
land in enacting the Fisher bill for education 
has stimulated us to take up educational projects 
similarly from a national viewpoint. Several 
bills illustrate the current conviction that we 
need to augment the present forces of the com- 
munity and the state through the aid of the 
nation. 

The growth of democracy throughout the 
world as a result of the issues of the war is 
accompanied by the stimulation of popular 
education in all countries. So we find in our 
own case the nation, the state, and the commu- 
nity joining forces for the strengthening and ex- 
pansion of public education. We are proposing 
to make larger appropriations for school purposes, 
to extend the period of compulsory attendance, 
to equalize educational opportunities in com- 
munities and in states, to give attention to the 
physical welfare of boys and girls, to furnish 
training in skilled industrial pursuits, to raise 
the quality and dignity of the teaching profession 
by increased compensation. We are proposing 
this educational advance for the general purposes 
of human betterment and for the specific pur- 
poses of a better Americanism, a better citizen- 
ship, a safer democracy. We are becoming 
thoroughly sensitive to the dangers that con- 
front the world. We were not able to keep 
out of the "last war that we are able to keep 
out of." We now recognize that we belong to 
the world, and that nothing that concerns the 
world is a matter of indifference to us; we must 

123 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

play our part, and the leadership that has been 
thrust upon us and the trust that has been 
reposed in us can be met only if we create the 
strong nation which alone can bear such burdens 
and meet such expectations. The hegemony 
of the new world of nations, we may hope, will 
be founded upon moral qualities rather than 
might; in the hope that we may have the moral 
leadership in the new order, we must develop 
ourselves through our institutions — our schools, 
our churches, our families, our industries, our 
agencies for government. 



IV 

PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY 

America has a substantial proportion of her 
children in schools other than public. Private 
schools have a varied range of purpose and char- 
acter. For the wealthy the private school 
furnishes an opportunity for selected associa- 
tions, healthful environment, and such educa- 
tional advantages as small classes, superior 
teachers, and better educational material. For 
religious bodies the private school presents an 
opportunity for the inculcation of religious 
principles and practice in institutions where 
religion is given first place in the curriculum. 
For nationalistic associations the private school 
permits of the transmission of nationalistic 
ideals, language, and race inheritances. We 
usually find the nationalistic motive, especially 
in bilingual schools, associated with the religious 
purpose; comment has been made earlier upon 
the close connection between nationalism and 
religious belief. 

INCREASE OP ENROLLMENT 

Of children attending private schools, the 
largest number are found in those which exalt 

125 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

religious ideals independently of nationalism, 
and which are commonly known as parochial 
schools. These schools are ostensibly English- 
speaking; they are usually of elementary grade 
and similar in character to the public schools. 
So-called "select" private schools, with no 
religious or nationalistic purpose, are more 
numerous in the East than in the West; these 
are not increasing noticeably in enrollment. 
But private schools with nationalistic-religious 
purposes and those having a solely religious 
purpose are increasing. 1 

TABLE VI 

Comparison of Children in Public Schools and in 

Catholic Schools in Four Periods From 

1900 to 1915 




A large and increasing proportion of the ele- 
mentary-school population of this country is to 
be found in parochial schools. In 1910 there 
were, according to the Official Catholic Directory, 
4,845 Catholic parishes with schools. In 1919 
this number had increased to 5,788, at the rate 
of 105 schools per year. Judging from data of 
the same source, the proportional increase in 



1 Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1916, p. 113; the Official 
Catholic Directory, Kennedy & Sons, New York, 1900, 1905, 1910, 
1915. 

126 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

the number of children enrolled in Catholic 
schools has been greater than in that of children 
enrolled in public schools. In 1910 there were 
reported 1,237,251 children attending Catholic 
schools in the United States. By 1915 this 
number bad increased to 1,456,206, or by 17.7 
per cent. The increase in the enrollment of 
pupils in the public schools of the country during 
the same period amounted only to 10.6 per cent. 
Parochial high schools are also rapidly increas- 
ing; so that we may expect in the future to find 
an increasing number of pupils attending private 
schools, from the lowest to the highest grades. 

Available statistical data indicate unmistak- 
ably that, at least in certain of our larger cities, 
the Catholic schools are making much larger 
strides in the enrollment of pupils than the 
public schools are making. In the city of 
Baltimore, for instance, the enrollment of pupils 
in the public schools from 1900 to 1915 had de- 
creased by nine-tenths of one per cent; while dur- 
ing the same period the enrollment of pupils in 
the archdiocese of which Baltimore is the main 
part had increased by 19.8 per cent. Again, 
during the same period the percentages of in- 
crease in the enrollment of pupils in the public 
schools of the cities of Boston and Philadelphia 
were, respectively, 31.8 and 30.2, while in the 
archdioceses of which these cities are main parts 
the percentages of increase were 58.1 and 86. 7, x 

1 Computed from the reports of the Commissioner of Education 
(1899-1900, vol. ii), pp. 1798-1809, and from the Official Catholic 
Directory, 1900, 1915. 

127 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

respectively. Although the archdioceses are not 
strictly comparable with the cities by which 
they are named, yet there can be little doubt 
that the percentages of increase in the arch- 
dioceses are largely, if not wholly, due to the 
increases in their largest cities. 

The number and distribution by nationality of 
parochial schools in Massachusetts are indicated 
in Table VII. 

TABLE VII 



DlSTKIBU 


noN by Nationality of Parochial Schools in 

CHUSETTS 1 


Massa- 






State of Mas- 
sachusetts 


Diocese of 
Boston 


Diocese of 
Springfield 


Diocese of 
Fall River 


National- 
ity 


"o 
o 

0* 


go, 


"3 


° m^ 

3 <3 n 


"o 

M 


"0 


O O M 

jz-z a 
c.-z> 
P 3,2 




1 


II 


French .... 

Polish 

Italian 

German . . . 
Portuguese. 
Other 


6ii 
13 
3 

2 

122 


3,1628 
6,910 

1,354 

473 

39S 

70,346 


18 2 

6 
3 
2 

'76 


10,929 
2,249 

1,354 
473 

51,887 


20> 
6 

33 


13,774 
4.273 

13.425 


14* 
13 


6.925 
388 

395 

5.034 


Total 


202 


111,106 


105 


66,892 


68 


31.472 


29 


12,742 



1 Out of 82 parishes. 

2 Out of 23 parishes. 



; Out of 40 parishes. 
1 Out of 19 parishes. 



An estimate based upon this table shows that 
approximately one-fifth of all the school children 
of the state are in parochial schools. Attention 
has been called before to the fact that the num- 
ber of children in parochial schools is increasing 
faster than that of children in the public schools. 
Catholic parishes which have had no schools 

1 Compiled by J. Arthur Favreau, Secretary Franco-American 
Historical Society. 

128 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

are planning to establish them. The situation 
in Massachusetts is fairly typical of what is 
found in other Northern industrial states, which, 
it must be remembered, are immigrant states. 

CITIZENSHIP GUARANTIES REQUIRED 

It is fairly obvious that under these conditions 
an increasing proportion of the children of this 
country will receive their training for citizenship 
in schools other than public. Much wisdom 
and tact will need to be exercised by the state 
in dealing with the problems arising from the 
growth and prospective increase in number of 
private schools. In general our line of ap- 
proach would seem to be to make clear that the 
state has the right to receive guaranties as to 
the civic education of all future citizens, but 
that it is recognized that in the exercise of this 
right there must be no interference with educa- 
tional and personal liberty. The situation is 
full of all sorts of dangers, and will require the 
utmost patience and wisdom before a satisfactory 
solution may be expected. 

While there is ample evidence that the pur- 
poses of citizenship are cherished in the private 
schools, there has arisen enough question to 
impel many states to set up regulative laws 
applying to private schools, and to require that 
the curriculums of the latter shall be similar to 
those maintained in the public schools. Many 
states are prohibiting the exclusive use of a 
foreign language as the medium of instruction 
in elementary schools, and with respect to 

129 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

bilingual schools regulations are appearing 
which require that due proportion of attention 
be given to English. It seems evident that 
if the state is to safeguard its interest in the civic 
education of the child, legislation regulating 
private schools is a matter of public importance. 
If the state is to have no influence on the educa- 
tion of children not in public institutions, then 
the state is without guaranties as to the train- 
ing of a considerable and increasing number of 
future citizens. 

In Nebraska there were introduced, without 
success, in the legislative session of 1919, meas- 
ures to abolish all private education; many 
states are contemplating legislation of varying 
kinds for the regulation or supervision of private 
schools, instances of which are found in Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Iowa 
(see Chapter IX). 

In the growing tendency to regulate private 
education the mistake will come if the problem 
is dealt with unsympathetically. Those who 
hold the sole end of education to be citizenship 
in a secular sense will meet with the opposition 
of religious leaders who determine the character 
of private schools. These leaders exalt another 
aim of education — namely, religious training — 
and they believe that the state exceeds its rights 
when secular aims are enforced to the exclusion 
or to the subordination of the spiritual. The 
problem is further complicated in the case 
of bilingual or nationalistic schools, where those 
in control wish to exalt language or racial 

130 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

heritages. The public school, by reason of its 
cosmopolitan character and, furthermore, by 
reason of statutory provisions, cannot attempt 
religious instruction nor magnify racial heritages. 
Its aim is primarily secular, civic, and national- 
istic from the American viewpoint; whereas the 
private school maintains, in addition to the 
civic aim, usually the religious and sometimes 
the nationalistic or racial aim. 

The difficulties attendant upon the regulation 
of private education are many. We have never 
made a serious attempt to maintain a system of 
inspection and approval of private education 
in this country. Where laws have required such 
a course, they have usually been disregarded; 
it was evident that their enforcement would be 
met with suspicion and resentment, and public 
officials have been loath to stir up a situation 
in which the charge of religious or racial persecu- 
tion might be raised. Most states by con- 
stitutional provision forbid the use of public 
moneys for private schools; in consequence, the 
private school is supported wholly by private 
funds. To inspect, regulate, receive guaranties 
from, or question in any way institutions main- 
tained by private funds is a new turn in Ameri- 
can procedure, and we may expect much con- 
troversy before principles are established which 
will be acceptable to all interests concerned. 

REGULATION THROUGH REGENTS' EXAMINATION 

The state of New York in its system of Regents' 
examinations maintains a method of estimating 

131 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

the academic requirements of children of all 
kinds of schools. The Regents' requirements 
are a prerequisite for so many educational and 
business positions that private schools uniformly 
seek the advantages which the Regents' cer- 
tificate alone will give. Examinations set by 
state authorities have the advantage of imper- 
sonality and in New York have apparently been 
received with cordiality by the private schools 
themselves. The disadvantage of such an ex- 
amination system is that the method is pedagog- 
ically doubtful. This is a matter of opinion, of 
course, but the majority educational opinion 
of the country is opposed to a system of promo- 
tion or classification of pupils solely on the basis 
of formal and written examinations of any type. 
From the standpoint of citizenship, examinations 
obviously cannot evaluate loyalty to the nation 
or the spirit of Americanism which the state 
would have all the schools engender. 

STATUTE WITHOUT ENFORCEMENT 

Even though the examination system be of 
doubtful pedagogical value, the state of New 
York is in a more comfortable position with re- 
spect to its efforts to guarantee the character of 
private education than are most of the other 
states. Massachusetts, for twenty years, has 
had a statute demanding the approval of private 
schools by public authorities, and unsatisfactory 
schools in this state may be closed and their 
pupils required to attend public schools. En- 

132 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

forcement of the law is left to the public-school 
officials of local communities. There is compe- 
tent evidence to show that the law has not 
usually been enforced. The local officials have 
apparently been unwilling to assume a function 
so full of danger. Public opinion has been so 
keen to maintain religious freedom that there is 
hesitation to make any move that seems to 
threaten that freedom, particularly because the 
private school is often maintained as an essential 
part of the practice of religion. The situa- 
tion is this : The exercise of the state's well- 
founded right to guarantee the character of its 
citizenship seems to the minds of some who sup- 
port and control private schools to be an attempt 
on the part of the state to interfere with the free- 
dom of private education. This is why the prob- 
lem is difficult; this is the reason why legislators 
hesitate; this is the reason why we shall find 
difficulty in effecting an immediate solution. 

Massachusetts, in 1919, proposed a law where- 
by the enforcement of the present statute should 
be better carried out. The new law would have 
required that local school officials report to state 
school officials upon the satisfactory or unsatis- 
factory condition of private schools. There was 
to be no penalty, but there would be publicity. 
The proposed change was strongly opposed by 
those in charge of private education, and pri- 
marily on the ground indicated above, namely, 
freedom of private education, and the law failed 
of passage. 

While the assumption is entirely defensible 

133 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

that the state has no other motive than solicitude 
for the character of citizenship, it is obviously 
difficult to carry through a procedure affecting 
a group which questions the motive and raises 
an issue which the state is anxious to avoid. 
In fairness it may be repeated that little sus- 
picion has been raised as to the character of 
instruction in citizenship in English-speaking 
private schools. Some suspicion has been aroused 
in the case of bilingual schools regarding the 
character of civic training and the use of the 
English language; the evidence has shown that 
in some of these schools instruction in the Eng- 
lish language has been neglected. 

It is admitted that bilingual schools in Massa- 
chusetts have been much more careful in the 
observance of the law in recent years. Their 
directors have been sensitive to the pressure of 
public opinion about the acquisition and use of 
the English language. Furthermore, in Massa- 
chusetts, the parochial schools are under diocesan 
school organizations which require them to main- 
tain certain minimum standards in their school 
work. The present program of co-operative ac- 
tion on the part of large groups of parochial 
schools promises good educational results. How- 
ever, many authorities in charge of English- 
speaking parochial schools in Massachusetts 
objected to the proposed law whereby the state 
authorities were to be given greater powers for 
the enforcement of the present law. In addition 
to the fear of curtailment of educational liberty, 
objections were raised lest the state undertake 
134 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

any move which would seem to limit the liberty 
of action which private schools believe to be 
theirs. The charge was made that state authority 
in education means centralization of power and 
consequent failure to sympathize with community 
needs and local institutions. 



INDORSEMENT OF FRANCO-AMERICAN CONGRESS 

The resolutions of the Franco-American Con- 
gress, held in Worcester, Massachusetts, Febru- 
ary 25, 1919, make the following statement of 
position regarding the problem of Americaniza- 
tion and the use of the mother tongue: 

1. The Franco- American Catholic Federation admits 
that a knowledge of the English language promotes a closer 
political, social, and economic union among the various 
groups which make up the American nation; 

2. The Franco-American Catholic Federation does not 
admit that this union requires the abandonment of the 
mother tongue and of the racial qualities of these groups; 

3. The Franco- American Catholic Federation even main- 
tains that the preservation of the mother tongue and of 
the racial qualities of these groups can be useful for their 
intellectual and moral culture and also for civic and eco- 
nomic values; 

4. In consequence, the Franco-American Catholic Fed- 
eration puts itself on record against all attempts to suppress 
or restrict the use or the teaching of languages other than 
English either in the home, in the school, or in the press; 

5. The Franco-American Catholic Federation exhorts its 
members to employ all the legitimate means at their com- 
mand to prevent the so-called Americanization plan from 
being diverted from its reasonable ends; 

6. The Franco-American Catholic Federation suggests as 
practical means of action: (a) the use of the influence of 

135 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Franco- American leaders and groups to persuade industrial 
and political leaders to support the principles above set 
forth; (b) to recommend to those of our compatriots who 
have not a sufficient knowledge of English to complete their 
knowledge of that language by attending special classes 
being organized for that purpose. 

The congress further declared its attitude on 
citizenship : 

1. The present congress of the Franco-American Catholic 
Federation, following the example of so many previous 
congresses, urgently recommends the organization of per- 
manent committees on naturalization by all French-Ameri- 
can societies which have not already organized these com- 
mittees; 

2. The Franco-American Catholic Federation urges all 
French-Americans who are citizens, either by birth or by 
naturalization, not to fail to register for voting and to exer- 
cise their franchise at each and every election. 

This statement of position is illuminating as 
indicative of the attitude of one large and in- 
fluential foreign-language group in New Eng- 
land. This attitude is typical of many of our 
foreign-born peoples, and from the position of 
the author of this study is natural and, as ex- 
pressed, not antagonistic to sound Americanism. 
While desirous of meeting the reasonable stand- 
ards of the land of their adoption, these groups 
wish to preserve in some degree their native 
language and national culture. They do not 
challenge the state for its insistence on English 
as the medium of instruction in the schools, but 
they protest against prohibition at the same time 
of the teaching of their mother tongue. The 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

resolutions encourage naturalization and the 
exercise of the franchise. 

We must be tolerant of the fact that these 
newer Americans cannot abandon at once the 
old ties of racial and national culture. Racial 
obliteration cannot take place in one generation; 
there are no instances in history of any such 
sudden transformation. Americans of many gen- 
erations still take pride in their Scotch, Welsh, 
or English ancestry, and they are no less patriotic 
on that account. Robert Louis Stevenson, speak- 
ing of the attitude of the Scotch in his day toward 
England, says that the Scotchman even yet 
thinks with a Scotch accent. 



VOLUNTARY CO-OPERATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 

We may turn to current happenings in the 
state of New Hampshire to illustrate another 
phase of relation between the state and private 
education. Here conditions are apparently much 
happier than in Massachusetts. New Hampshire 
has had, for some years, a general regulative law 
relating to private education, but a much more 
definite act was passed by the legislature in 1919. 
There is no indication in this latest legislation 
as to which agency of the state shall have power 
of enforcement, and no penalty is fixed for non- 
compliance with the law. By implication it 
would seem to rest with the state authorities, 
since no other agent is mentioned, and since we 
may infer that the state is prepared to enforce, 
through its own machinery, laws set upon its 

10 137 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

statute books. In actual practice the authorities 
in charge of parochial schools are, by agreement, 
taking the initiative in seeing that the law is 
obeyed. The impetus for the law came from the 
state committee on Americanization, a widely 
representative body made up in part of leaders 
of labor and of religious bodies. The law was 
formulated after agreement of all those con- 
cerned. 

The following letter, written by Rt. Rev. G. A. 
Guertin, Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire, 
to all Catholic pastors in charge of parochial 
schools, gives evidence of the kind of co-operation 
which has been established: 

The advent of peace, and the complete vindication of the 
fundamental principles for whose defense our beloved coun- 
try entered the World War, are subjects for the expression 
of our fervent gratitude to the God of all justice to whom 
nations, not less than individuals, must render an account. 
Toward the attainment of this glorious achievement the 
faithful of our diocese have contributed an honorable share, 
a record of loyalty and generosity in which their zealous 
pastors may take a legitimate pride. 

We are convinced that in all measures designed to per- 
petuate the blessings thus secured to our country, the same 
spirit of loyal co-operation will be ever manifest. To one 
of these measures we wish to direct your particular and 
prompt attention. The movement of Americanization, 
having for its object "to unite in a common citizenship 
under one flag all the peoples of America," is a movement 
to which every one who makes his home within the borders 
of the United States must subscribe. From the State 
House you have received a copy of the program of the New 
Hampshire Committee on Americanization, and for that 
document we bespeak your earnest and prayerful study. 
To bring about the desired union, the ability of all who dwell 
138 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

permanently within our state to speak a common language 
— English — is a necessary first step. To this end we would 
urge all pastors to encourage attendance at evening school 
by all parishioners who may be wanting in a knowledge of 
the English tongue. 

The position of our parochial schools in this matter is 
clearly set forth in the correspondence between the Bishop 
of Manchester and the New Hampshire Committee on 
Americanization, through its chairman, Hon. Frank S. 
Streeter. Therein you will find the fourth fundamental 
principle of Americanization adopted at a meeting of the 
Governors and chairmen of committees on public safety, 
called by Secretary Lane and held in Washington on April 
3, 1918, namely, "that in all schools where elementary sub- 
jects are taught, they should be taught in the English lan- 
guage only," clearly explained and interpreted by the New 
Hampshire Committee on Americanization and the state 
Superintendent of Public Instruction,'approved by the bishop 
as explained and interpreted, and mutually agreed upon as a 
working basis for the application of said principle in all New 
Hampshire schools. This interpretation is as follows: 

1. That in the instruction of children in all schools, in- 
cluding private schools, in reading, writing, spelling, arith- 
metic, grammar, geography, physiology, history, civil 
government, music, and drawing, the English language 
shall be used exclusively, both for the purposes of instruc- 
tion therein and for the purposes of general administration. 

2. The exclusive use of English for purposes of instruc- 
tion and administration is not intended to prohibit the con- 
duct of devotional exercises in private schools in a language 
other than English. 

3. A foreign language may be taught in elementary 
schools, provided the course of study (or its equivalent) 
outlined by the New Hampshire Department of Public 
Instruction in the common English branches — that is, in 
reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, 
physiology, history, civil government, music, and drawing 
— be not abridged but taught in compliance with the laws 
of the state. 

139 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

These three articles as approved by us admit of no eva- 
sion or equivocation. They are intended to serve as the 
foundation of a working program for our schools, and t heir 
incorporation into that program demands the surrender of 
nothing that is vital to the well-being and progress of any 
Catholic school. Due provision is made for religious in- 
struction and for the teaching of any language that may be 
desired in addition to the course of studies (or its equivalent) 
outlined by the New Hampshire Department of Public 
Instruction. 

This program must be carried out in all the schools of 
our diocese, and we charge the conscience of pastors and all 
others having the care of schools to take whatever steps 
may be necessary to put it into execution as promptly as 
conditions will permit. A full measure of good will on your 
part, and reasonable time, will solve all problems of detail 
which may arise. In all such problems both pastors and 
teachers may look to the Rev. P. J. Scott, diocesan superin- 
tendent of schools, for sympathetic aid and direction. To 
him we have delegated full authority for the supervision of 
all schools within our diocese. He is hereby directed and 
empowered to make an immediate and complete survey of 
the school situation and, after full consultation with the 
reverend pastors and heads of schools, to formulate a 
universal course of studies to be followed by all primary 
schools under our jurisdiction. The important work thus 
confided to him, Father Scott takes up in obedience to 
authority and with the sole desire to promote the welfare 
of Church and state. To the end that such service may 
produce the beneficial results to which we all look for- 
ward, the diocesan superintendent of schools must be 
given by all with whom he is to labor, the attention 
and co-operation consonant with the responsibilities of 
his office. 

Commenting on the letter above quoted, the 
Committee on Americanization of New Hamp- 
shire, which fathered the laws, makes the follow- 
ing statement: 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

One of the most progressive and history-making docu- 
ments of our day, looking to the carrying of the great lessons 
of the war into the days of peace, is the letter of instructions 
sent to all the priests of the diocese by Rt. Rev. George 
Albert Guertin, Roman Catholic bishop of Manchester, 
under date of November 15, 1918. Since July the Com- 
mittee on Americanization has been in close relations with 
Bishop Guertin regarding the teaching of English in the 
parochial schools. The bishop's letter establishes for the 
parochial schools of the diocese a uniform course of studies 
patterned after the requirements of the State Department 
of Public Instruction, and based upon the interpretation of 
the fourth principle of Americanization adopted by the 
committee, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
and the bishop, and mutually agreed upon as a working basis 
for the application of said principle in all New Hampshire 
schools. 

An influential paper in the state makes the 
following comment upon Bishop Guertin's letter: 

The first impression made by Bishop Guertin's letter to 
the priests of the diocese, relative to the new educational 
plan for the parochial schools, is that of its immense signifi- 
cance. Then certain questions arise: How is the plan 
going to work out? Does it take anything away from any- 
body? Does it relate to religion? Does it require that we 
become a people of only one speech? And all these and 
many more questions are answered by the history-making 
document. 

In the first place, the Americanization program explicitly 
safeguards the religious beliefs and practices of those con- 
cerned. The working agreement contains a clause which 
provides that the exclusive use of English in instruction in 
the standardized course, and for administrative purposes, 
is not intended to prohibit the conduct of devotional exer- 
cises in a language other than English. 

Nor is it intended — let us say, it is not desired — to dis- 
courage in any way the use of foreign tongues. The purpose 
is not to restrict Americans to one language; it is simply 
141 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

to make them all familiar with one language, that of our 
laws. We desire that all the others shall be preserved, and 
that their enriching influences may be exerted upon our 
society and our literature. 

The educational plan takes nothing from anybody. It 
asks nobody to give up the language of his racial stock, or 
the literature that enshrines the ideas and ideals of his 
people. It gives, instead of taking. It adds a language 
to the mental equipment of those who are benefited by it, 
and takes none away. It will make no man smaller, nar- 
rower, less competent in any way, but will make broader 
and more competent, by adding a useful tool to the working 
outfit of many of our men. 

Let us not go wrong in our thinking at this point. There 
is neither purpose nor desire to lose the foreign languages 
out of our American life. It is the purpose of the educa- 
tional plan in which the diocese is co-operating to promote 
the essential union of Americans by enabling all of them 
to converse and do business together in one common lan- 
guage. Its purpose is to enrich as well as to unify American 
life, not to impoverish it. 

As a further instance of the kind of co-opera- 
tion which characterizes the whole procedure 
affecting parochial schools in New Hampshire, 
attention may be called to the fact that the 
officials representing the executive committee 
of the Committee on Americanization which was 
in charge of the formulation of the law, is com- 
posed of the following individuals: Frank S. 
Streeter, chairman of the Americanization Com- 
mittee; Ernest W. Butterfield, state superin- 
tendent of public instruction; Rev. P. J. Scott, 
diocesan superintendent of parochial schools. 

New Hampshire is apparently avoiding the 
rock upon which Massachusetts has split, by 
seeking co-operation as the means of putting 

142 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

into operation a law involving delicate adjust- 
ments. On the other hand, there will not be 
found wanting those who will object to the 
principle of co-operation followed by New Hamp- 
shire; these will take the position that a govern- 
ment gives up something of its dignity and 
authority when it negotiates and seems to tem- 
porize with particular groups or institutions 
within the state. Let us remember that the 
state itself is nothing but the whole group of 
all the individuals in the state, and that the 
collective opinion of these individuals is what 
gives sanction to the laws of the state and makes 
possible their enforcement. This is the demo- 
cratic idea of the state as opposed to the order of 
those which we have challenged recently in 
the World War. Again, let us remember that 
nations have been judged to be democratic or 
not in proportion to the degree in which minori- 
ties have rights in them; again, that in dealing 
with private-school education we invariably 
touch closely upon religious and civil liberties. 
In these and like issues it is better not to be too 
insistent upon abstractions, such as the rights 
of the state dissociated from other rights. We 
should direct our energies to the securing of 
co-operation among all the groups which must 
be factors in the adjustments required for the 
welfare of the state. 

The example of procedure set up by the state 
of New Hampshire may be commended for 
study to other states where conditions in any 
way analogous may be found. 

143 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Certain conditions pertaining to private educa- 
tion in several Eastern states have been briefly 
described in the foregoing paragraphs. There 
may still remain confusion as to the exact rela- 
tion between the parochial school and the 
immigrant. It is not to be assumed that only 
the children of the immigrant are to be found 
in parochial schools. On the contrary, children 
of several or many generations of American 
ancestry will be found in English-speaking 
parochial schools. As has been indicated before, 
little suspicion has been raised concerning the 
civic education of the children attending these 
schools. It is with regard to foreign-language 
or bilingual private schools that the question 
as to the civic education has been raised seriously 
in a number of states; and in these schools will 
be found largely children who are foreign born 
or native born of foreign parentage. 

One danger of exempting the religious school 
from state approval lies in the fact that the anti- 
religious or revolutionary private school will 
claim a similar exception. The laws must deal 
impartially with all kinds of private education, 
whether benevolent or malevolent. We wish 
to guarantee through the agency of the school 
sound instruction in the civic responsibilities 
which all must bear, and we wish to guarantee 
the knowledge and use of a common tongue. 
No matter which type of school the child may 
attend, we wish to make sure that he will emerge 
a good citizen. These are the reasons why the 
states are beginning to feel that some regulations 

144 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

must be imposed on all agencies conducting 
educational work. 



MIDDLE-WEST DEVELOPMENTS 

It may be said that the situation respecting 
private education is distinctive in each, state. 
A good deal of competent evidence has ap- 
peared during the past few years to show that 
certain private schools, especially in the Middle 
West, were quite exclusively nationalistic, foster- 
ing the purposes of a nationalism other than 
American. Even in public schools in certain 
sections of the West as well as the East the 
language of instruction was other than English. 1 
The spirit of Americanism aroused by the war 
has caused a rapid change in the character of 
these schools. The chapter on laws will show 
the legislation which has effected these changes. 

The situation in certain sections of the Middle 
West is of unusual interest and importance. 
Map 3 shows the distribution and proportion of 
parochial schools in the state of Wisconsin. 
What this state is contemplating in the way of 
legislation is set forth in Chapter IX. 

In the following states public interest has been 
indicated by surveys, legislative activity, and 
public discussion: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, 
North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and 
Michigan. The foreign populations in these 

' In Van Buren, Maine, the work of the public schools was until 
recently conducted in the French language; now it is carried on 
partly in French, partly in English. Geographically Van Buren is 
practically a Canadian town. 

145 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

sections are made up of Germans, Swedes, Poles, 
Dutch, Russians, French, Norwegians, and Bo- 
Map 3. — Per Cent op Children of School Age Attending 
Parochial Schools in Wisconsin by Counties, 1916-17 1 




DC 



hemians. Particularly in rural sections where 
immigrants of one nationality have congregated 

1 This map was made in 1919 by B. W. Elsom, a student in the 
University of Wisconsin, as a part of his graduating thesis. 
146 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

there appear to be areas where Americanism 
has made little progress even with the younger 
generation. Churches, business establishments, 
and schools use the European languages of the 
settlers. We have long been familiar with the 
"foreign" sections in our cities, the Little 
Italies, the Little Hungaries, and the ghettos. 
We had not suspected the existence of what 
might be termed foreign provinces, as in the 
group of states above mentioned. Bulletin No. 
31 of the United States Bureau of Education 
(1918) says about South Dakota: 

The assimilation process of the foreign elements in the 
population has been retarded because the foreign born 
gathered largely in settlements, some of them extending 
over several counties. Some counties — Hutchinson, for 
example — are largely peopled by German stock. In this 
county and in Hanson County the German-Russian Men- 
nonites still live the quaint community life brought with 
them from Russia. German, not English, is the language 
of the villages, although in most of the schools English is 
the language of instruction. 

The situation in Nebraska is described in a 
report of the Council of Defence. 1 

Foreign-language schools are located in 59 counties of 
Nebraska. There is a total of 262 schools in which it is 
estimated that 10,000 children receive instruction in foreign 
languages, chiefly in German. In these 262 schools, 379 
teachers are employed. Five thousand five hundred and 
fifty-four children are attending the schools of the German 
Evangelical Lutheran Church. Of these 379 teachers in 
private schools, 2 give instruction in Danish, 6 in Polish, 14 
in Swedish, and 357 in German. Less than 2 per cent of 
these teachers are certificated. About 120 of the German 

1 Re-port of the Nebraska Council of Defense, January 14, 1917. 
147 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

teachers are likewise ministers in the German Lutheran 
parish where the school is located. The county superin- 
tendents of the 59 counties in which the foreign-language 
schools are located reported that in only a few cases do 
these schools give the equivalent of the eighth-grade public 
schools. For the most part, the eight years' attendance in 
such schools fits the pupil for the sixth grade of the public 
schools. 

In certain schools in Fillmore, Cass, Franklin, Gosper, 
Jefferson, Pawnee, and Wayne counties, the instruction is 
given entirely in the German language. In about 200 of 
the schools three hours daily is devoted to instruction in 
the German language. 

In Deuel, Fillmore, and Jefferson counties, the superin- 
tendents report that the German national hymn is sung in 
certain foreign-language schools. The American national 
hymn is not sung in about 100 of the German-language 
schools. Over 100 foreign-language schools lack an Ameri- 
can flag. 

Public schools have been closed and forced out by Ger- 
man parochial schools in Cedar County, Cheyenne County, 
etc. In Nuckolls County one parochial school has been 
receiving state aid. In Clay County two German schools 
received pay for two months' salary from the public-school 
fund while the children of the public schools attended these 
German schools. 

After this report was submitted December 18, 
1917, the State Council of Defense of Nebraska 
passed the following resolution, which was sent 
to each county superintendent of schools: 

Whereas, From investigations which have been con- 
ducted by the Nebraska State Council of Defense, it has 
become very apparent that the teaching of German in some 
of the private and denominational schools of the state has 
had an influence which is not conducive to a proper and 
full appreciation of American citizenship, therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Nebraska State Council of Defense 
requests that no foreign language shall be taught in any of 
148 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

the private or denominational schools of Nebraska, and that 
all instruction, whether secular or religious, shall be given 
in the English language. And the council earnestly asks 
the cordial co-operation of all private and denominational 
school authorities of Nebraska in putting into effect this 
request; and we again urge that the public-school authori- 
ties see to it that no foreign language shall be taught in 
any of the grade schools of our state. 

The legislation enacted in Nebraska during 
1919 was designed to meet the condition brought 
to light during the war. One of the acts, known 
as the Burney law, provides that all private, 
denominational, and parochial schools in the 
state, and all teachers employed or giving in- 
struction therein, shall be subject to and governed 
by the provisions of the general school laws 
of the state so far as these apply to grading and 
promotion of pupils and qualifications and certi- 
fication of teachers. All private schools are 
required to have adequate equipment and sup- 
plies and shall have substantially the same 
courses of study as do the public schools. An- 
other act, known as the Siman law, prohibits 
the teaching of any language other than English 
in grades below the high school; this prohibition 
applies to public and private schools alike. For 
further details, see Chapter IX, on laws. 

The Bureau of Education bulletin quoted 
above makes this general statement of the 
situation in South Dakota: 

A large portion of the school population attend German 
Catholic or German Lutheran parochial schools in which 
the German language has been used largely as the medium 
of instruction. 

149 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

South Dakota stopped this practice during the 
war by order of the State Council of Defense. 
It should be noted that, according to the census 
of 1910, South Dakota had a population which 
was 77 per cent foreign born, with Germans 
the dominant race and Scandinavians second in 
number. 

Figures regarding private schools in Minnesota 
are as follows: 

Number of parochial and private schools 307 

Number of pupils enrolled 38,853 

Number of teachers 1,359 

Number of schools using English alone 94 

Of the 213 bilingual schools in this state, 195 
use the English and German tongues, 10 use 
English and Polish, 4 English and French, 1 uses 
English and Bohemian, 1 English and Dutch, 
1 English and Norwegian, 1 English and Danish. 
These instances are fairly indicative of the 
situation in the group of states enumerated above. 
The problem is complexly grounded in the desires 
of people of foreign origin to conserve both 
religious belief and their folk heritage. The 
declared motive is largely that of religion, but 
religion and nationality are often so closely 
united that it is difficult to determine which of 
the two purposes is the stronger. So far as we 
may generalize about this relation, it may be 
said that the private school is unilingual and 
English, the motive is religious; where the pri- 
vate school is bilingual, the motive is nationalis- 
tic or racial fully as much as religious. We have 
bilingual schools in the East in the case of the 

150 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

French Canadians in New England. In the 
case of purely foreign-language schools there 
would seem to be no doubt that the predominant 
motive is nationalistic or racial. Public opinion 
as the result of the war has practically driven the 
foreign-language school out of the country. The 
chapter on recent legislation will furnish ample 
evidence of this fact. It is estimated that about 
fourteen states have prohibited the use or teach- 
ing of any foreign language in elementary schools. 
It would appear that there is a growing disposi- 
tion in many states to prohibit the continuance 
of bilingual schools. The propriety of this 
action on the part of state authorities has been 
questioned from the general point of view 
presented in this volume, but the trend of public 
opinion seems to be in the direction indicated. 
The reason for the present drastic tendencies 
is clear enough; the natural reaction from the 
abuses which have been discovered is toward 
extremes of regulation. 

CKEDIT DUE PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS 

Let us be fair to the parochial school. In 
any assessment of the influence of these schools 
upon the citizenship of the country, great credit 
is rightly due to them. Particularly in the 
East, where parochial schools have been long 
established and the English language is the 
medium of instruction, there is little difference 
between their educational status and that of the 
public school. What parochial school of this 

151 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

latter character has not its service flag with its 
many stars, and among them gold stars! In 
every effort for the successful carrying on of 
the war these school's gave excellent co-operation. 
The records of the Junior Red Cross will show 
for them percentages of participation similar 
to those of the public schools; in Liberty loans, 
in War-savings-stamp campaigns, in food con- 
servation, and in the many other enterprises 
in which the government sought co-operation, 
these schools maintained at private expense did 
their full share. We must respect the patriot- 
ism of the directors and pupils of these schools; 
we must respect the religious convictions of 
those who maintain them and who desire to 
secure for their children the spiritual and other 
influences which the public schools cannot give. 
We must respect the spirit of sacrifice of those 
who bear the burden of double taxation to main- 
tain schools which better carry out their beliefs 
and aspirations. 

There is much to be said to the credit of the 
bilingual school for the cause of Americaniza- 
tion. The criticism has often justly been made 
of the public school that it effects a false Ameri- 
canization by a too rapid process of change 
from old landmarks to new. The tragedy of the 
child of foreign parentage suddenly turning in 
contempt against the Old World speech and 
ways of his father and mother lias been noted 
by many commentators. Acquiring the gloss 
and veneer or smartness of Americanism without 
an appreciation of its deeper meaning is not true 
152 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

Americanization. Americanization must be con- 
sistent with the commandment, "Honor thy 
father and thy mother." The sudden breaking 
away from the old landmarks of race, religion, 
and custom has never resulted in good citizen- 
ship in the new relations. 

The bilingual school in many instances has 
been the bridge in Americanization and made 
assimilation gradual and consequently sound. 
We are attempting no praise for the bilingual 
school that refuses to make concessions or, worse, 
which inculcates suspicion or distrust of Ameri- 
can institutions. The bilingual school which 
instills the new allegiance without relinquishing 
old associations can be and usually is an effective 
institution for the development of citizenship. 
There is a danger, of course, that the bilingual 
school will preserve indefinitely something like 
a dual allegiance. That the bilingual school 
promises to do this thing is feared by many, 
but the complaint of the immigrant is that the 
children break away from traditions of the 
parents too fast, that they insist on becoming 
Americans too soon; foreign-born parents attest 
that their children prefer English to the native 
tongue in spite of all conserving influences. 

In Europe the bilingual school has been 
accused of maintaining the dual relationship 
indefinitely. Let us remember, however, that 
this result has usually followed where the state 
has sought to obliterate the languages and cus- 
toms of subject nationalities; where there has 
been no compulsion, assimilation has usually 

11 153 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

taken place. Wherever the nation has attempted 
to force conformity or assimilation, the coerced 
races have sullenly resisted and maintained a 
distinctive individuality: witness Poland under 
the triple yoke of Germany, Russia, and Austria. 
May we not take a leaf for ourselves out of Old 
World experiences? 

EXTREMES OF OPINION 

There seem to be three distinct positions on 
the question of the relation of the state to private 
education; the point of difference is as to the 
amount of authority which the state should have 
over private schools. The first position rests 
on the principle that education is exclusively a 
state function and may not properly be exercised 
by any other agent, such as private individuals, 
parent associations, or the church. Plans of 
action based on this conviction are to be found 
in recently proposed legislation for Nebraska 
which would abolish all private education, and 
in Iowa through language regulations. Similar 
action is proposed in the state of Michigan, 
where an amendment to the constitution is 
sought for completely abolishing parochial 
schools. 1 

Opposed to this drastic position is the stand- 
point at the other extreme, that the state has no 
rights with respect to education. This seems 
to be the position maintained by a number of 
directors of private schools who object to any 

1 This petition failed in 1919, but is still being agitated. 
154 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

sort of supervision of their institutions on the 
part of public authorities. Up to the year 
1919 few states have made provision for such 
inspection of private schools; few states have 
made requirements as to curriculums in pri- 
vate schools, and those that have set up such 
requirements in their statutes have not enforced 
them. Now that a policy of regulation or of 
supervision or inspection is being attempted, 
objections are beginning to appear. These ob- 
jections are based on several reasons. First, 
the argument is advanced that education is not 
a state right, but some other sort of right, such 
as that of the parent, the church, or the society. 
Those who take this position usually admit 
that the state has the right to demand that all 
children receive an education, but not the right 
to specify as to the character or details of that 
education. Extreme instances of negation of 
the right of the state to regulate education are 
more easily found in Canada than in the United 
States. A condition of tension exists in Canada 
at the present moment over the question of the 
relation of the state to private education. In 
Le Canada Frangais for March, 1919, is found a 
vigorous challenge of the right of the state to 
exercise any influence over the education of its 
youth; the article, written by a judge of the 
superior court, concludes in translation : 

The child is not a citizen, he is not the pupil of the state; 

he is, on the other hand, the object of solicitude of his 

father and mother. . . . When Solomon wished to discover 

the real mother, he made the test of feeling, and upon the 

155 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

cry of anguish the real mother was revealed. . . . Whose 
feelings are more concerned to-day, those of the legislators 
or those of the parents? Render then to the state that 
which is the state's, and to the father that which is the 
father's. 

The significance of this opinion becomes im- 
portant when one considers the large number of 
French Canadians resident in the United States 
and commonly educating their children in paro- 
cliial schools. Some of the directors of these 
schools seem to hold the position indicated in 
the quotation above. This attitude was freely 
manifested in Massachusetts during the discus- 
sion of legislation (1919) relating to the inspec- 
tion of parochial schools by public authorities. 
The example of the French Catholic bishop of 
Manchester, New Hampshire, described above, 
is of opposite tenor. 

Another objection opposed to the right of 
the state to exercise influence upon private 
education has to do with method. The right 
of the public to demand guaranties as to the 
character of private schools is granted by these 
objectors; but they do not concede that the state 
should secure these guaranties through the usual 
executive machinery, such as the state board 
of education, or through the agency of the state 
commissioner of education. These objectors as- 
sert their satisfaction with a law which requires 
the public-school officials of local communities 
to approve or receive guaranties about private 
schools, but object to any granting of authority 
to state educational officials. Their opposition 

156 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

is expressed in the following resolution, adopted 
April 6, 1919, by the Federal Council of the 
Franco-American Catholic Federation at Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts: 



The Franco- American Catholic Federation, Inc., is op- 
posed in principle to the control by the state of either public 
or private schools, and trusts that the Committee on Edu- 
cation of the Massachusetts legislature, now conducting 
hearings on various educational bills reported by the Special 
Recess Commission, will recommend such amendments of 
these bills as to preclude any attempt at control by the state 
of either the public or private schools, especially with refer- 
ence to present sections d, e, and/, of Senate Bill No. 354. 

This resolution indicates a genuine fear of the 
exercise of arbitrary authority by state officials. 
This fear is particularly strong in Massachusetts 
and is shared not only by directors of private 
schools, but in part by those of public schools. 
New England has always been tenacious of the 
belief that the local community should be su- 
preme in deciding educational policies. On the 
other hand, the history of the development of 
the public-school system of Massachusetts shows 
a continuous struggle between the local com- 
munities and the state. The state is usually in 
the position of requiring higher standards and 
the local community seeking exemption from 
larger appropriations for school purposes. The 
famous reports of Horace Mann contain evidence 
of the situation in the period of his activities. 
The disconcerting fact about the position of 
private-school directors concerning the influence 

157 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of the public through some agency upon private- 
school status and standards is that the approved 
or tolerated theory of local public approval does 
not lead to enforcement. Local school author- 
ities decline to become agents in enforcing state 
requirements. There is, consequently, no pub- 
lic influence, other than public opinion, exercised 
over private schools either by community or state 
officials, even in a state where statutes are found 
intended to establish such a control. 

SUPERVISION, THE RIGHT OP THE STATE 

The theory that the state has definite rights 
in the status and character of all educational 
institutions has been maintained consistently 
by the majority of citizens from the period of 
the Constitution. The right is implied in the 
Constitution of the United States. The right is 
specifically stated in the constitutions of most 
of the several states. The right has been upheld 
repeatedly in court decisions throughout the 
country. The right has seldom been gratuitously 
enforced in the case of private schools, but 
always has been defended when challenged. 

What, then, are the rights that the state pos- 
sesses in the conduct and character of private 
schools? There is a midway position between 
that taken by those who assign to the state all 
rights respecting the education of its youth, 
and that taken by those who deny the state 
any rights. This position is, indeed, not a com- 
promise, half right and half wrong, but just and 

158 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

fair. This position is the only one that the 
author can assume is proper. Our position 
simply is this: The right of private education is 
recognized, but in the exercise of this right by 
individuals, religious bodies, or associations, the 
standards and the character of secular instruc- 
tion must be equal to that maintained in public 
schools. The state has and should exercise the 
right to receive guaranties as to the scholastic 
character of all private education. In addition 
the state has the right to receive positive assur- 
ances as to the nature of the civic training given 
to all incipient citizens. On the other hand, 
the individual has the right to choose a non- 
public institution for the education of his children 
if he believes that he can secure superior advan- 
tages by so doing. The Constitution which gives 
rights to the state also gives rights to the in- 
dividual. Our national traditions have made us 
sensitive to any laws or requirements which in- 
terfere or seem to interfere with religious convic- 
tions or the liberty of individuals. In the re- 
cent war we modified our military-service regu- 
lations in the case of conscientious objectors. 
"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" 
has guaranties to individuals, to religious bodies, 
and to political associations that we hesitate to 
circumscribe except in cases of obvious abuse, 
or when the state is threatened. 

WEIGHT OF AUTHORITY 

There are not wanting authorities in charge 
of private — i.e., parochial — schools who recognize 

159 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

the limited rights of the state with respect to 
nonpublic schools. Let us quote from an article 
from Bishop McDevitt of Harrisburg in the 
Ecclesiastical Revieiv of April, 1919: 

The policy that appears best under the circumstances is 
for our Catholic educators, empowered by the Hierarchy, to 
approach the Federal and state educational authorities and 
discuss frankly the standing of Catholic education before 
the law; to acquaint the civil authorities with the principles, 
the purposes, and the achievements of Catholic education; 
to assure those in power that Catholics are as anxious as 
they are to safeguard the child and provide him with the 
education that makes for good citizenship, and that Catho- 
lics, while believing in liberty of education, are as willing 
to conform to all reasonable demands which the state may 
make upon Catholic schools to insure the right education 
of children. Catholic educators should say, furthermore, 
that, knowing their rights as citizens, they will resist, with 
all proper means at their disposal, the attempts to destroy 
freedom of education or to cripple their educational system 
by laws that discriminate against Catholic schools which 
do not conform to an arbitrary and unnecessary standard 
of academic efficiency. 

The state authorities, I half suspect, will be disposed to 
meet this approach to solve a delicate problem in an amicable 
way. Their willingness to do so will be the more prompt 
if they see that Catholics are not only prepared to recognize 
a reasonable supervision of Catholic schools by the state, 
but are determined to resist publicly, boldly, and defiantly 
every invasion of their inalienable right to liberty and free- 
dom of education. 

There are those who picture a situation where 
there will be but one system of schools, to which 
all the youth of the land may resort, forgetting 
their differences of race, religion, and economic 
condition. Viewed from the standpoint of citi- 

160 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

zenship alone, the proponents of such a plan 
set up an appealing case. It would seem fortu- 
nate to many if the civic relation which the child 
is to bear to his fellows would appear so funda- 
mental that the school environment of the child 
could be controlled wholly from such an angle. 
But the child has in prospect various relations 
to society, and what may seem to one group to 
be the most important relation in life — namely, 
the civic relation — may not seem so to another 
group equally honest. To repeat, to the group 
which holds the civic relation which the child 
is to bear to his fellows as most important and 
other relations unimportant, the common or 
public school for all children seems most fitting. 
To another group the most important relation 
for the child is the religious one, and this group 
naturally wishes the child to come under influ- 
ences best calculated to develop the qualities 
deemed essential for the religious relation: in 
like manner will be the reasoning and conclusions 
of those who make the group wishing to retain 
racial heritages. Democracy means freedom 
of action of groups as long as their convictions 
do not interfere with the well-being of the state. 
Democracy means sensitiveness particularly with 
respect to religious convictions, and where relig- 
ious convictions mean the maintenance of re- 
ligious schools we cannot unnecessarily restrict 
these schools without restricting religious free- 
dom. We are beginning to place restrictions upon 
racial schools, as is shown by the example of 
numerous states legislating against the teaching 

161 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of foreign languages. This has been done under 
the theory that here the wishes of a group 
threaten the welfare of the state. 



THE CHALLENGE FOR UNITY 

We have widespread fundamental divisive in- 
fluences in our society. Instead of ignoring 
them or denying them as we customarily do, 
it would be better to face them fearlessly to 
see what should be done for the common good 
of all, and yet with justice to the convictions 
and instincts of the groups concerned. The 
differences of race, religion, and economic cir- 
cumstance that exist in our country are as great 
as in the older countries whence we came. We 
are one of the most heterogeneous countries in 
the world. We have the warning of what has 
happened so frequently in the heterogeneous 
countries of the Old World. We place our trust 
in the form of government which we have builded 
with so many pains. We have the hope that, 
in spite of differences of race, faith, and eco- 
nomic condition, all men may unite on common 
ground — namely, the relation of citizenship — 
and unite for the common welfare. We must 
allow freedom for the other relations which the 
individual will bear toward his fellows. It is 
too much to expect that we can affect presently 
or in the discernible future a national homoge- 
neity. We must attempt the possible — namely, 
a certain degree of unity in our heterogeneity. 

16? 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC 

This unity must be an appreciation of the duties 
of the common citizenship which all share. While 
our citizens will differ profoundly in many ways, 
there should be certain common elements such 
as love of country, adherence to our institutions, 
and devotion to the principle of democracy. 

All our schools, public and private, should 
emphasize these elements of unity while teaching 
respect for the differences of race and religion 
which characterize our population. Men may 
well differ about matters of policy, for differences 
may bring out the truth; but democracy looks 
not too secure when there appears a Protestant 
party or a Catholic party, or when we must 
reckon with the Jewish vote or the German vote. 
Any school, public or private, that fails to 
instruct children concerning the common basis 
on which all Americans should unite — namely, 
that of citizenship — deserves the concern of the 
state and the state may properly make require- 
ments to see that such an omission is corrected. 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

Although the pupils to be taught are men and 
women experienced in the ways of the world, 
varying in degree of education and in their 
needs for re-education, nevertheless with a few 
striking exceptions no adequate course of study 
or syllabus has been worked out for the guidance 
of teachers of English to foreign-speaking pupils. 
Instructors have generally been left to their own 
devices, with the injunction to teach English 
and maintain classes of a satisfactory size. 
Presenting a multitude of difficulties not found 
in the teaching of English-speaking pupils, the 
teaching of English to immigrants has generally 
been delegated to underpaid teachers, untrained 
for the work, some of whom have not an ade- 
quate conception of how to begin, what they 
are trying to accomplish, nor how to know 
whether they have succeeded. Important as 
we now recognize the subject of the Americaniza- 
tion of immigrants to be, in most school systems 
it is not recognized as sufficiently so to cause the 
appointment of a supervisor charged with the 
duty of improving the service. Where such 
assignments have been made, they have been 
by way of additions to the burdens already borne 

164 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

by superintendents and directors, and even then 
the duties have been largely administrative 
rather than pedagogic. Out of the 177 school 
systems reporting in a questionnaire sent to 
superintendents, supervising principals, and 
teachers of non-English-speaking students that 
they provide classes for the teaching of English 
to immigrants, only twenty have supervision by 
a director or supervisor especially assigned to 
this work. 

The schools in which English is taught to 
adult immigrants are constructed to meet the 
needs of children during the day. So little 
thought has been given to the subject of equip- 
ment for adults going to school at night, that 
the question, "What special equipment, if any, 
have you for foreign adult classes?" was inter- 
preted as follows by the teachers and officials 
who made the replies: 40 made no answer at 
all; 28 reported no special equipment; 10 
evidently misunderstood the question, some 
of them referring to teachers and to their 
own education and experience; 27 referred 
to the usual schoolroom equipment; many re- 
ferred to textbooks, pamphlets, and charts. It 
is interesting to note that the very thought of 
specialized equipment, such as rooms, furniture, 
lavatories, did not enter the minds of these people 
who are teaching adults. 

EXCHANGE OF THOUGHT, THE AIM 

In the schools as organized the absence of 
pedagogic theory pertaining to the teaching of 

165 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

English to immigrants has helped to retain and 
to repeat practices which have outlived their 
usefulness. Particularly is this true where guid- 
ance in the selection of content and methods 
is lacking because of an uncertain aim: teachers 
of children, unless otherwise directed, tend to 
carry over the pedagogic theory of this work 
to the teaching of adults; lay teachers tend to 
reproduce vaguely remembered snatches of their 
own school days. Rarely is the mental status 
of the adult immigrant taken into account in 
planning instruction for him; only rarely have 
teachers of English to foreign-born adults been 
conscious of a definite aim or goal of instruction 
in English related to the special needs of the 
pupils. When pressed for a description of the 
goal they sought, teachers have generally ascribed 
such remote purposes as the following to their 
teaching: "to Americanize the foreigner"; 
"to teach him to read the newspaper"; "to 
teach him to read English literature"; "to 
teach him to become an American citizen"; 
"to teach him to understand America"; "to 
train him in civics"; "to teach him correct 
pronunciation . 

The usual aims and values ascribed to content 
and procedure in teaching children lack validity 
for the immigrant learning English. He does 
not usually desire a knowledge of English for 
cultural purposes, or to be disciplined in think- 
ing or to have his memory trained; he is skeptical 
of future returns to be acquired by present 
efforts. His needs are present and urgent; he 

166 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

is impatient to use what he learns to-day and to 
meet future needs as they arise. Needless to 
say, his point of view is sound. The immigrant 
who finds the instruction in English worth while 
to-day because he can apply it at once outside 
of the classroom is more likely to return to-mor- 
row because a new problem has presented it- 
self. In brief, the point of departure in teaching 
English to immigrants cannot be certain con- 
ventional aims and values vested in the subject 
matter called "English" or in processes of teach- 
ing, but must be found in the pupils themselves. 
Since they are free to come if they like or to go 
if they choose, the question as to what is worth 
while is of greater importance in such instruction 
than it is with children who are compelled by 
law to attend for fixed periods, or with high-school 
or college students who voluntarily enter upon 
courses of instruction to continue for fixed periods. 
In considering the question, "What is worth 
while?" for immigrants learning English, it is 
well to bear in mind the twofold purpose of 
teaching a language in general — namely, to com- 
municate thoughts, and to acquire the thoughts 
of others. An insight into the point of view 
of the foreign-born pupils may be obtained by 
imagining an American in Russia or in Greece 
laboring under the same difficulties as those under 
which immigrants labor in America, and handi- 
capped by a similar lack of knowledge of the 
language of the country. Such an American 
evidently would wish primarily to learn as much 
of the language of the country as would enable 

1G7 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

him to make his way, to understand the natives, 
to be understood by them, and only secondarily 
to read their literature, their constitutions, and 
accounts of their political procedure. In other 
words, he would desire a knowledge of the lan- 
guage to communicate his thoughts rather than 
to read the thoughts of others ; and if he analyzed 
his own state of mind and were not numbed 
into acquiescence by the authority of his teacher, 
he would realize that he needed to talk in Russian 
not in such terms as he would use in speaking 
to his English-speaking friends in Russia, but in 
such Russian sentences and on such topics as 
would enable him to get along with Russians who 
spoke no English; any old Russian words would 
not do, least of all archaic, pedantic, or technical 
locutions. Moreover, trained language teachers 
believe that speaking is the psychological basis 
for the teaching of a language and precedes 
reading and writing — i.e., that visual symbols 
must be presented in association with auditory 
symbols acquired in oral language. The immi- 
grant in our schools demands that he be taught 
to communicate in English with English-speak- 
ing people because this is his most vital need, 
and as a basis for the later understanding of 
the printed and written thoughts of others. 

EMPHASIZE SPEAKING AND READING 

This definition of purpose reduced to school- 
room practice is quite generally accepted by 
teachers of adult immigrants. Leaving out of 
consideration the problem of teaching English- 

168 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

speaking adults, teachers are agreed that the 
three school exercises, speaking, reading, writing, 
in the order named, are relatively important in 
the teaching of English and relatively worth 
while to the non-English-speaking pupil. To 
the immigrant learning a second language to be 
used as a medium of communication and not for 
the sake of the training to be derived from the 
process of learning, spoken language is more vital 
than printed or written, and a reading knowledge 
of the language is more likely to be used than is 
the ability to write it. It need hardly be pointed 
out that this principle ought not to exclude 
the teaching of reading and writing from the 
very beginning as a means of forming multiple 
associations with language forms to be used in 
speaking. On the contrary, the three kinds of 
exercises are intimately related, but the relative 
stress in the selection of subject matter and in 
the time to be given to each exercise may be 
determined by the application of the principle. 
To the question put to those in charge of schools 
making provision for teaching English to im- 
migrants, "Do you emphasize speaking, reading, 
or writing English in teaching foreign pupils?" 
the following answers were received: forty -two 
emphasize speaking; three emphasize reading; 
thirty-five reported emphasis on all, without 
indication as to whether one is emphasized more 
than another; forty-two merely answered "yes." 
The order of emphasis in the use of the three 
kinds of exercises in these schools is reported as 
follows: 

12 169 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Order of Emphasis Number Reporting 

Reading, speaking, writing 3 

Reading, speaking 8 

Reading 1 

Speaking, writing, reading 5 

Speaking, reading 8 

Speaking, reading, writing 37 

In practice, however, this conception of the 
relative value of exercises is not carried out as 
consistently as it is accepted in theory. The 
sample time programs submitted indicate that 
in beginning classes more time is given to reading 
and writing than is consistent with assigning 
first place to oral expression. To illustrate, a 
school where English is taught two hours a night 
for three nights a week submits the following 
typical program : 

Reading 40 min. 

Copying 15 

Dictation 20 

Phonics 10 

Spelling 10 

Civics (reading text) 20 

Conversation 15 

The only direct provision for exercises in oral 
English is in the conversation period of fifteen 
minutes, while reading and writing take up a 
disproportionate amount of time. On the other 
hand, the following program stresses oral English 
rather than the less usable exercises: 

Greetings 10 min. 

Oral development of topic or theme 30 ' 

Copying of theme 10 ' 

Oral development of reading lesson 15 ' 

Phonics 5 " 

Reading 25 " 

Two-minute oral drill 2 " 

Oral summary and closing salutations 13 ' 

170 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

Just as the ulterior ends conceived in the general 
problem of teaching English must be reduced to 
immediate ends of teaching speaking, reading, 
and writing, so these objectives must be further 
analyzed for classroom purposes into a number 
of specific school exercises. 

SUBJECT MATTER FROM LIFE 

The closer the relation between the content and 
method of instruction in English and the lives of 
the pupils the more effective the instruction will 
be in satisfying the needs of the present, and there- 
fore the more attractive to adult learners. The 
teaching of English to foreign born is a compara- 
tively new field, free from precedents and unen- 
cumbered by pedagogical practices based on a 
discredited faculty psychology; the opportunity 
therefore presents itself of selecting the content 
of instruction for its real and present value to the 
learner rather than for some supposititious and 
remote value. In most schools it is more than 
an opportunity; it is a necessity pointed to by the 
withdrawal of pupils whose needs for communica- 
tion in English are present and urgent. What 
these needs are can only be set forth in a general 
way, for only the teacher who is informed and 
interested in the well-being of the immigrant 
can through the experience of specific situations 
determine what special interests are pressing 
for expression in English. A Mexican illiterate 
woman working on a farm and an intelligent 
Russian working in a mine require different 
beginnings in English. The teacher can make 

171 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

a proper beginning only by taking into account 
such factors as the immigrant's literacy in his 
own language, present occupation, sex, age, and 
opportunity for speaking English. 

DEVELOP A SPEAKING VOCABULARY 

Within broad limits, but not necessarily in the 
order given, the following topics for English con- 
versation, for developing vocabulary, and for 
teaching English locutions are drawn upon by 
teachers: 

1. The pupil's relationship with those with 
whom he comes in contact; statements of name, 
address, occupation; forms of greeting, saluta- 
tions, farewells, inquiries; matters of personal 
situation and condition, respecting himself and 
those in whom he is most interested — e.g., age, 
weight, illness, good health, pain, hunger, thirst. 

2. Schoolroom activities and objects and the 
corresponding descriptive words and phrases, ex- 
pressions of action — standing, walking, reading, 
writing, speaking, opening, closing, coming, going. 

3. Daily outside-of -school needs: buying, sell- 
ing, repairing, cooking, eating, looking for work, 
working, riding, walking, together with counting, 
weighing, measuring, visiting, enjoyments, use of 
leisure time and holidays, recreations. 

4. Vocational terms: occupations, technical 
expressions. 

5. The house and the family: renting, fur- 
nishing, cleaning, and beautifying the home; 
members of the family and their relationships. 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

6. The community: the pupil's relationship 
to the school, the church, the lodge, the trade 
or labor organization; the newspaper, the 
theater, the post office, and the local agencies 
for promoting his well-being and security — 
e.g., police, sanitation, licenses, and local ordi- 
nances. 

7. Local and national holidays; national ideals 
as exemplified in the lives of great Americans. 

8. Formal civics: the relation of city, state, 
nation, other nations. 

It is not sufficient to adapt the content of 
instruction in English to the interests of the 
pupils. It must be borne in mind that this con- 
tent must be useful and necessary to the immi- 
grant in communicating with English-speaking 
people and not merely in communicating with 
people who speak his own language. Thus a 
lesson which teaches a foreign-born woman an 
English lullaby to croon to her baby is of greater 
interest to the teacher than it is of value to the 
pupil. The occasional use of English by immi- 
grants among themselves should not be set up 
as a valid factor in determining content of con- 
versational instruction. The foreign born in his 
group makes little application of such instruc- 
tion; he relapses into his native tongue at the 
first opportunity. When they speak English to 
one another, immigrants do it for the effect on 
English-speaking people. There is justification 
for the use of anecdotes and mottoes in English 
lessons for the foreign born; but only in excep- 
tional cases does any reason exist for instructing 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

foreign born in the use of English through Eng- 
lish literature, and on the whole teachers of 
immigrants have resisted this temptation. 

LIMITED NEED FOR WRITING 

In the teaching of writing in English, the dis- 
tinction is made between writing as an end and 
writing as a means. Under the latter head be- 
long all formal exercises in copying, dictation, 
filling ellipses, paraphrasing, and summarizing 
which are necessary for drill. Under composi- 
tion as an end are included such exercises as 
pupils write for the purpose of communicating 
their thoughts to others — i.e., with a motive for 
writing and with an audience in mind. 

It is obvious that the great mass of immigrants 
have even less need for writing in English 
than have native Americans; in teaching them 
English there cannot be even the pretense that 
they are to become men of letters and that they 
must be taught the four forms of discourse, 
narration, description, exposition, and argumen- 
tation — not to mention poetic diction. It is 
also an error to assume that these mature men 
and women, foreign born though they be, lack 
fairly well-defined purposes in undertaking an 
adventure into English. Whether consciously 
expressed or not, their purposes should be met. 
Most effectively have immigrants resented in- 
struction unrelated to their needs by refusing 
to continue it. The foreign born learning Eng- 
lish undoubtedly must know how to write their 

174 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

names and addresses, and how to fill in blank 
spaces in such commonly used instruments as 
checks, receipts, and applications for postal and 
express money orders and the like, but what be- 
yond these elementary exercises is worth teaching 
is not a settled matter. Teachers, therefore, 
are inclined to emphasize writing on topics 
which adult foreign born cannot be expected 
to write upon in the life outside of school and to 
neglect such kinds of writing as they are more 
likely to use. Themes relatively remote from 
the more pressing needs of immigrants are exem- 
plified by composition topics such as these, sub- 
mitted by teachers: a trip to the museum; how 
to make a buttonhole; calling on the telephone; 
interesting places to visit; pure food; the life of 
George Washington; how a United States Sena- 
tor is elected. No objection is made to these as 
topics for conversation or even for reading, 
but the likelihood that an immigrant learning 
English will desire to write on these subjects is 
extremely remote. 

An experiment to determine what foreign-born 
adult pupils wanted to be able to write was con- 
ducted in a city school attended largely by 
factory employees, mechanics, laborers, peddlers, 
and small business people. The teachers were 
instructed to request pupils to try to write in 
English something which the latter actually 
wanted to be able to write. Both pupils and 
teachers were informed what the object of the 
experiment was. 

More than four hundred papers were sub- 

175 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

mitted and classified as to subject matter. Al- 
though all these pupils had been writing com- 
positions of the essay type for periods varying 
from six months to six years, in this test they all 
wrote letters — letters of inquiry, of complaint, 
of excuse; letters offering to sell or buy; letters 
requesting samples, letters ordering goods and 
canceling orders. Ninety per cent of the letters 
were such as laborers, peddlers, and small busi- 
ness men would be expected to write; the 
remaining 10 per cent were purely personal 
letters written by the more advanced pupils. 
These results, especially the relatively small 
number of personal letters, were disconcerting 
to the teachers who had emphasized "composi- 
tion" writing of the expository and narrative 
type, and who in exercises in letters had assigned 
subjects such as "letters to your father telling 
him how you like America." 

Inquiry among the pupils, however, elicited 
the information that if they wished to write to 
their families or to their friends they would 
naturally use their native languages and not 
English, and hence they saw no reason for learn- 
ing to write in English a letter "to my father in 
Russia." A seeming exception is the recent 
experience of teachers with illiterate immigrants 
whose soldier sons had grown up in America, 
and had learned to write English in the public 
schools. In many cases the children were able 
to speak the native language of the parents, 
but unable to write it, and in other cases the 
parents spoke English but were unable to write 

176 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

it. An urgent need, therefore, arose for the 
parents to learn to write English in order to be 
able to communicate with their English-speaking 
children. Here it would seem as if writing in 
English had been desired by foreign-born persons 
in order to be able to communicate with relatives; 
but it must be remembered that these relatives 
were people who could understand only English. 
To summarize, immigrants find it worth while 
learning to write in English to English-speaking 
people, not to people with whom their communi- 
cation would more naturally be in the native 
tongue. 

SPELL FEW WORDS WELL 

Intimately related to instruction in writing 
English is instruction in spelling. Our vocabu- 
laries are not one general list of words which 
serve our purposes in communicating orally and 
by written symbols as well as in understanding 
others orally and through written symbols. As 
a matter of fact, the vocabularies of literate 
persons consist of four more or less distinct 
groups of words making up our speaking, writing, 
understanding, and reading vocabularies. In 
short, there are kinds and degrees of acquaint- 
anceship with words as with friends. Some 
words are known to us only as we hear them 
spoken by other persons. Others are recognized 
in our reading, but are strangers to our speaking 
and writing vocabularies. Finally, there are a few 
choice words with which we are so familiar that 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

we use them with confidence to convey our 
thoughts to others. Among the latter are the 
words we use in writing. 

Since ability to spell is of value only in writing 
and since immigrants have a limited need for 
writing in English, it is apparent that our pupils 
need be taught the spelling of a relatively small 
number of words and that these words must be 
selected from the probable writing of the pupil 
rather than from his reading or understanding. 
Interesting studies have revealed that reading 
and speaking vocabularies are not affected by 
learning the spelling of words, nor does one 
necessarily know how to spell the words of the 
speaking or understanding vocabulary. The 
chief value of spelling ability as well as its final 
test is the use to which spelling is put in written 
communication. 

Spelling lists selected from the reading and 
speaking vocabularies of pupils are not only 
likely to be too large, but also, on the one hand, 
to stress words which pupils will hardly use in 
their writing, and on the other to neglect words 
which they will probably use. At present the 
most reliable lists of spelling words for our pupils 
may be made by the teacher from the words 
that the learners use in their written discourse; 
this may perhaps be supplemented by such com- 
bined lists of words as those of Ayres 1 or 
Chancellor. 2 While these lists are not con- 



1 Measurement of Ability in Spelling, L. P. Ayres (Russell Sage 
Foundation, 1915). 

2 Journal of Education, vol. 71, 1910, p. 488, etc. 

178 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

structed for this purpose they would prove useful 
and suggestive to the teacher. 

PHONICS OVEREMPHASIZED 

An extraordinary difference of opinion among 
teachers as to the value of phonics in English 
instruction for adults results in a wide diversity 
in practice. This difference of opinion is illus- 
trated by the following typical answers from 
superintendents to the question, "What use do 
you make of phonics?": 

I. A minimum use, and that the practical. The chronic 

difficulties of national enunciation and pronunciation 
and peculiarities of the English vernacular; phonetic 
grouping of words already mastered. 

Just enough to get the pupils to pronounce the words 
distinctly. 

Moderate use. Very much less time than with children. 

We have lists of phonics for drill to correct certain faults 
peculiar to some races. We recommend the use of 
such only in special cases, and devote little time to 
phonics in classes of beginners. Intermediate and 
advanced pupils receive drill. 

Some of the "family groups" are useful in teaching spell- 
ing, but the use of phonics as a corrective agent is 
a waste of good time. 

II. Pupils are drilled until they understand thoroughly the 

phonetics and then applied on selected words for 
pronunciation. 

A constant use of phonetics. Many learn their a b c's in 
this class. 

Very prominent with all beginners. 
179 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

As much as possible. 

It is used in spelling and in early reading to secure 
articulation. 

Very similar to that of the primary classes in day school, 
except that progress of foreign adults is much more 
rapid than that of children. 

It is evident that "phonics" as understood 
by teachers includes a variety of exercises having 
a number of different purposes, among which 
the more important are the following: (1) to aid 
in the teaching of spelling by giving a knowledge 
of the sounds of letters and by calling attention 
to the common elements of words; (2) to aid in 
the teaching of reading by furnishing a phonetic 
key to the recognition of new words; (3) to train 
the ear of the pupil in noting nice distinctions 
in sounds; (4) to correct errors in pronunciation, 
enunciation, accent, and tone. 

As an aid to the teaching of spelling, phonic 
exercises are of undoubted value provided they 
are not carried too far. Two considerations 
as to the use of phonic exercises must be borne 
in mind: first, comparatively few words are 
needed by immigrants in their writing vocabu- 
laries; second, in English the syllable rather than 
the letter is the basis for spelling. Phonic ex- 
ercises on abstract vocal values of the sounds of 
letters tend only to confuse the beginner and to 
convince him that he cannot master the in- 
tricacies of English. 

As one would expect, the learner's pronuncia- 
tion and accent almost unfailingly disclose foreign 

180 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

birth. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that 
teachers seek to eradicate this defect by per- 
sistent and long-drawn-out lessons to train their 
pupils to hear and to pronounce English sounds 
as Americans pronounce them. Both from the 
daily programs of lessons submitted and from 
the emphasis in the flood of recent literature on 
teaching English to foreign born, one must gather 
the impression that the correction of foreignisms 
in pronunciation is of supreme importance. 
Especially is this true of schools and teachers 
who are inexperienced in the teaching of English 
to immigrants and who are perhaps obsessed 
by the importance of nice distinctions in sounds 
as a result of elaborate college courses in phonet- 
ics. Such teachers fail to realize the difference 
between teaching children whose main business 
is to prepare for life and teaching adults whose 
main business is to make a living. 

Very frequently foreign-born children, after 
many years of hearing English spoken correctly, 
during which their habits of sound production 
are being formed by constant drill and correction, 
still reveal their foreign birth by their accent, 
enunciation, or tone. Thus children of Russian 
parentage, educated in the public schools and in 
American colleges, frequently fail to pass tests 
for teaching positions in New York because of 
their inability to pronounce correctly such words 
as "English," "finger," "younger," "singing," 
"anchor." Time and ingenuity devoted to the 
eradication of foreignisms in the pronunciation 
of children is eminently worth while and the effort 

181 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

should be increased rather than diminished. 
For with children the school has a reasonable 
expectation of continuous effort over a number 
of years in providing that repetition with atten- 
tion at ever-lengthening intervals which makes 
for habit; while the pupils are in that plastic 
stage in which it is possible to slough off old 
habits of pronunciation and to acquire new ones. 

Very different is the case of teaching English 
to adults of foreign birth. Their attendance at 
school is usually voluntary, uncertain, and 
dependent entirely on their judgment of the 
worth of the instruction. They regard drill in 
correct pronunciation as a proper refinement 
of teachers who are jealous for the purity of 
English sounds, a thing of little practical though 
of great ornamental value. Their point of view 
in this respect may be summed up in the state- 
ment of one of them, "In my factory they don't 
care if you say 'Go avay' or 'Go away,' provided 
you don't cuss." Were it possible to keep the 
adult pupil in school for a long enough time to 
affect his habits of articulation, his enunciation 
and tone, and were he to consider such a result 
worth while, it is still questionable whether the 
desired end could be accomplished with pupils 
who are past adolescence and whose speech 
habits are fixed. 

Common experience tells us that even ex- 
ceptionally well educated persons who learned 
to speak English after adolescence are only in 
rare instances without foreign accent. Besides 
possessing a knowledge of the science of phonetics, 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

foreign-born professors of modern languages have 
a stronger incentive than other immigrants to 
speak English without an accent; but after 
adolescence the time for building those delicate 
habits of adjusting mouth parts for the produc- 
tion of pure sounds in a new language is past for 
professor as it is for laborer. 

Although purity of English accent is an impos- 
sible goal for adult immigrants to attain, it is 
desirable that some attention be paid to correc- 
tive phonetics for two purposes. The first is to 
point out distinctions in the meanings of words; 
this is a practical consideration even for those 
who are least impressed with the importance 
of phonic exercises. Pupils can be held to a 
measure of effort in learning correct pronuncia- 
tions by being shown that mispronunciation 
results in misunderstanding, as in the following 
sentences: 

I slip (sleep) on the floor. 
The tin (thin) soldier. 
The color of pitch (peach). 
The bad room (bedroom). 
You gas (guess) too much. 
Calm (come) down. 

The second purpose is to present an ideal of good 
English pronunciation, which is worth while 
even though correctness remain but an unattain- 
able ideal. If illustrations of this kind can be 
taken from class conversation the point can be 
made more strikingly. In the most progressive 
schools, however, teachers spend comparatively 

183 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

little time in correcting errors in pronunciation 
and only a few minutes in focalizing on correctness. 

PROVIDE INTERESTING READING 

During the earliest stages of English instruction 
pupils find the themes developed on the black- 
board, in leaflets, or in textbooks sufficiently 
interesting as topics both in oral drill and in 
reading. Soon, however, they outgrow such 
mechanical exercises and desire to read — i.e., 
to get an author's thoughts. Twenty years ago 
the pedagogy of reading failed to stress the im- 
portance of a content on a level with the pupil's 
thinking. It is not so long ago that even the 
intelligence of children was discounted by read- 
ing material as puerile as: 

I see the boy. 

Do you see the boy? 

He is a good boy. 

In the earliest development of work with non- 
English-speaking adults, teachers were impressed 
by a seeming analogy between the adult immi- 
grant with his small English reading vocabulary 
and the English-speaking child with his small 
reading vocabulary. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, that many teachers report using children's 
primers as reading matter for adults, especially 
as suitable texts, presenting subject matter of 
interest to adults by means of a simple vocab- 
ulary and sentence structure, have but recently 
appeared. Guided perhaps more by a sense of 
humor than by a principle of method, teachers 
have gradually excluded primers with their 

181 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

ridiculous, "I am a little buttercup," from the 
reading material of husky Poles and Swedes. 
Unfortunately, however, many- texts especially 
written for adults still contain reading matter 
appealing only to the intelligence of children. 

In selecting the subject matter of English les- 
sons, whether the object be to teach speaking or 
writing, the same principle holds true — that the 
more nearly the content of instruction coincides 
with the realities of the pupil's ordinary experi- 
ence, the better adapted it is to his needs; 
obversely, the more remote such content is from 
the direct and present interests of the pupil, the 
more academic and futile it becomes. 

The principle is partially applied in organizing 
the curriculum for children because their present 
interests are ephemeral and their future activities 
problematical; it must be applied rigidly in se- 
lecting content for the teaching of adults because 
the latter have undoubted life interests and 
pressing present needs. Such subjects as the 
following, taken from textbooks for adults, are 
so remote from the immediate interests of adults 
learning to read English that they have no place 
in a proper program: the fable of the lion and 
the mouse; the English colonies; a ride in the 
park; success; "The Village Blacksmith." Adult 
immigrants learning to read English are more 
likely to require ability to read a bill of fare, 
one of the many signs they see, an application 
blank, a time-table, a street-car advertisement, 
or newspaper headings. 

It need hardly be pointed out that the content 

13 185 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of reading lessons should not be limited to the 
examples given, but that it should rather con- 
form to the reading which adult pupils would 
select for themselves without the teacher's 
influence. With such an approach to their task 
can teachers best fulfill their twofold function, 
the one phase growing out of the other; first, 
that of satisfying present needs, interests, and 
desires; second, that of stimulating new interests. 

VARIETY OF TEACHING METHODS 

During the past few years there have appeared 
a host of ready-made, all-inclusive methods of 
teaching language, based usually on some single 
trick or device which characterized the method 
and gave it a name, such as the so-called peri- 
patetic method, the visual-instruction method, 
the dramatic method, the textbook method, the 
factory method. The discussion of method 
which is to follow will be limited to the methods 
employed in teaching English to beginners — 
to those who speak or who understand English 
so imperfectly that they cannot understand Eng- 
lish-speaking people or be understood by them 
when English is the means of communication. 
Whether literate or not, such pupils possess a 
language system of their own which, within the 
limits of their experience, they are able to use; 
they are not like children who know but little 
language and who must therefore be taught 
verbal expression in association with new objects 
or experiences as they arise. Our pupils have 
had children's as well as adults' experiences, 

186 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

so that psychologically the problem of learning 
English consists for them in associating new 
symbols, new words, and new sentence structures 
with old experiences for which they already 
possess more or less adequate symbols. 

The method employed in teaching such pupils 
to associate English symbols with objects, ideas, 
or experiences may involve the use of a textbook, 
so that it may be called a textbook method. 
Most American teachers are inclined to follow 
texts not only in teaching English to adults, 
but in the teaching of all other subjects. But it 
cannot be said that in all cases they use a text- 
book method; the term is too inclusive and of 
little value in indicating the nature of the pro- 
cedure. For the same reason such other terms 
as "dramatic," "oral," "conversational," "visual 
instruction," and "objective" are inadequate to 
characterize methods. Teachers do not employ 
one of these so-called methods to the exclusion 
of all others; they combine some and perhaps all, 
so that it is possible to find an " oral-con versa- 
tional-dramatic-objective" method, or a "text- 
book-leaflet-conversational -objective " method, 
and these in all possible variations. Teachers 
with good sense have been quick to realize that 
"methods" cannot be mutually exclusive, and 
that a well-rounded method of teaching makes 
use of a great many different devices. 

However, there are certain fundamental dis- 
tinctions as to types of procedure. A logical 
differentiation of methods is possible on the 
basis of the language used in teaching. On this 

187 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

basis, methods may be characterized as either 
direct or indirect: direct methods use the new 
language to be taught both as end and as means 
— i.e., teachers applying the direct method speak 
only English in teaching English to pupils; 
indirect methods make use of the pupil's vernac- 
ular in teaching a second language — e.g., the 
teacher using the indirect method explains Eng- 
lish words by translating them into Italian. 

DIRECT AND INDIRECT METHODS 

The methods are called direct and indirect from 
the kind of association processes involved. 
Thus, in teaching a Pole the meaning of the word 
"door," a teacher who uses the direct method 
leads the pupil to associate the word "door" 
directly with the object "door," suppressing as 
far as possible connection with the word for 
"door" in Polish. A teacher using the indirect 
method emphasizes the association of the Eng- 
lish word "door" with the corresponding Polish 
word, and thus indirectly helps to associate the 
word "door" with the object "door." 

An indirect method requires a triple associa- 
tion of idea, native expression, English expression. 
In recalling the meaning of an English expression 
the pupil must retrace the ground over which 
he has traveled in learning, and his recall is 
therefore guided by the "cues" or associations 
through which he learned the word. These cues 
will be, first, the native expressions, and, second, 
the objects or ideas. The interposition of the 
native expression between the English expression 

188 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

and the object or idea acts as a retardant in the 
process of acquiring ability to use English as a 
means of communication, and results in the 
hesitation so often noted in the speech of those 
who learn a language by the indirect method. 
By the direct method, the process of association 
is short-routed so that only the essential elements 
(ideas and their English verbal expressions) are 
brought to focus and thereafter repeated until 
they are firmly welded in immediate association. 

Aside from psychological considerations, the 
difficulty of securing competent teachers who 
speak English in addition to one or more of the 
great number of other languages and dialects 
spoken by foreign-born pupils has undoubtedly 
tended to make the direct method the prevailing 
procedure. Out of 185 answers to the question, 
"Do teachers use the foreign language of the 
pupils when teaching them English?" there 
were 169 replies indicating that no foreign lan- 
guage was used. Sixteen teachers or officers 
admitted using a foreign language, adding, how- 
ever, a number of qualifying statements and ex- 
planations, such as, "In unusual cases one pupil 
interprets for another"; "When necessary"; 
"Only as a last resort." 

It is hardly necessary to say that a knowledge 
of the pupil's vernacular is decidedly helpful in 
organizing classes, in establishing those human 
contacts without which successful teaching is 
difficult, and in making for that sympathetic 
mutual understanding so desirable in English 
instruction to immigrants. However valuable 

189 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

it may be to employ teachers competent to use 
the native languages of the pupils, the fact 
remains that only comparatively few teachers 
are so qualified. Thus only 35 out of 184 
answers to the question, "Do teachers under- 
stand the language of their pupils?" are in the 
affirmative. Experience with such teachers, 
moreover, seems to indicate that they find it 
difficult to restrain a natural tendency to over- 
come every apparent difficulty by resorting to 
translation. Under such instruction the pupil is 
likely to hear more of the foreign language spoken 
than English, and to receive less opportunity 
to use English than to use his own language. 

The terms "direct" and "indirect" serve to 
mark off fundamental differences in the teaching 
of languages; but within each of these categories 
other bases of classification may be found. The 
most inclusive principle for the further logical 
differentiation of beginning methods is that of 
standpoint in organizing the content of instruc- 
tion. On this basis the various methods, whether 
direct or indirect, may be classified as synthetic, 
analytic, analytic-synthetic. A method which 
purposes to "build" language by the process 
of accretion, beginning with the elements of 
language, such as letters of the alphabet, syl- 
lables, words, or isolated sentences, is called a 
synthetic method. A method which proceeds 
by presenting to the pupil connected sentences 
which it then analyzes until it reaches the ele- 
ments of the language is called an analytic 
method. A method which employs the elements 

190 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

so obtained to build other language forms is 
called analytic-synthetic. 



FALLACY OF SYNTHETIC METHODS 

All synthetic methods of teaching English are 
based on the logic of the subject matter rather 
than on the psychology of learning, and serve 
to illustrate what Professor Sweet calls the 
"arithmetical" fallacy in language instruction 
— i.e., they show that in language the sum of 
all the parts does not equal the whole. Un- 
trained teachers seek to justify the use of 
purely synthetic methods by quoting the much 
misunderstood pedagogic maxim, "From the 
simple to the complex." They fail, however, 
to realize that anything is "simple" which is 
meaningful, interesting, useful; that the expres- 
sion, "How do you do?" though apparently com- 
plex, is, because of its human interest, much 
simpler to the learner than any single word in 
the sentence. Language, being an organism 
rather than a machine, grows and develops in 
use rather than by being pieced together like 
the parts of an engine. Factory methods of 
quantity production in turning out parts to be 
fitted into a complex whole cannot be applied 
in teaching English. 

Although purely synthetic methods are rare- 
ly used by teachers (such methods are re- 
ported in the inquiry for this Study, in 19 in- 
stances as against 903 instances representing all 
others), the occasional rediscovery and use of 

191 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

them makes it necessary to describe the most 
common varieties. 

I. A unique attempt to standardize instruction 
in English by making the alphabet the unit of 
advance is found in the method leaflet prepared 
by the department of employment welfare of 
the Bethlehem Steel Company. The four-page 
leaflet is entitled A Vocabulary for Non-English- 
speaking Beginners in English, " to be built up 
from the alphabet by teacher and pupils through 
an interpreter." Two pages are devoted to a 
vocabulary of single words, one page describes 
the "objective-interpreter" method, and one 
page the general method, from which the follow- 
ing sentences are quoted : 

The alphabet is the basis of the English language, and 
should be used in forming the words of the beginner's vocab- 
ulary. A thorough drill should be given to the sounding of 
the letters a, e, i, o, u, w, and y, and the division clearly 
shown between vowel and consonant letters. The order of 
work in building up a simple usable vocabulary should be 
nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, 
etc. 

Write the alphabet on the blackboard — both capital and 
small letters. Explain to the pupils through the interpreter, 
that, as the alphabet is the basis of the language, they must 
learn it first in order to build up words for their vocabulary. 
Give a twenty-minute drill on sounding and learning the 
form of the letters. Have individual pupils point out the 
letters and sound them. Group the letters as to form, 
such as loop letters b,f, h, j, k, I, y, etc. Use other methods 
to fix the form and sound of the letter in the mind of the 
pupil. 

Build up words for the vocabulary through the objective 
method, beginning with the thing the pupil is most inter- 
ested in himself. Explain through the interpreter that they 
192 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

must name the object pointed to in their own language first, 
then give them the name of the object in English. The 
teacher points to a pupil's ear, the class sounds the name of 
the object in their own language, the teacher sounds it in 
English, pupils repeat it after him until well sounded. 
Teacher and pupils then build the word from the alphabet 
by the following method: The teacher points to the letter 
e in the alphabet; the pupils sound it. The teacher brings 
down the letter e on the blackboard ; the pupils again sound 
it. Use the same method with a and r until the word "ear" 
is built up. Build up "eye," "nose," "hair," "face," etc. 

Drill and review are very essential in this work. When 
the pupils have acquired a vocabulary of fifty nouns, pro- 
nouns and adjectives may then be introduced — using them 
in connection with nouns already taught. Later on intro- 
duce verbs, then adverbs — -using them in connection with 
nouns and pronouns already taught to form complete 
sentences. 

Attention should be called to the fact that 
this leaflet was published as recently as 1918. 
Apart from such cocksure misstatements as, 
"The alphabet is the basis of the English lan- 
guage," the author seems to be blithely uncon- 
scious of the fact that children and adults learn 
to speak a language without knowing a single 
letter, that the name of a letter is a faint cue 
to its sound, that the sounds of the letters do 
not make up the sound of the word — to use his 
own illustrations, "ear," "eye," "face" — and 
that if the learners of English in his factory 
were compelled to wade through a study of 
nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, until they 
reached the ninth part of speech it is unlikely 
that they would survive the process. 

II. From the false analogy between language 

193 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

and a machine we derive the metaphor "to 
build a vocabulary." It is common knowledge 
that pupils may understand the meanings of 
isolated words and yet be unable to use them in 
discourse. One may even know all the words 
in the "vocabulary" placed at the head of each 
lesson in most modern language texts and yet be 
unable to utter a thought with these words. 
In reciting the story of his experience in trying 
to acquire a language by learning its words, 
Gouin says: 

I shall be refused credence by him who, keeping faith in 
the classical methods, has studied only Greek and Latin 
(I shall not say learnt), and in whom faith in the dictionary 
is anchored by ten, twenty, or thirty years. He will never 
believe that, knowing thoroughly the elements of a language 
from first to last, I should not know thoroughly the lang- 
uage itself, at least sufficiently to understand it spoken or 
written. I certainly would not have believed it myself 
if I had not gone through the whole experience; and 
nevertheless, I repeat, I did not understand a word, not a 
single word. 

Many crude attempts have been made to 
codify English words which an immigrant must 
know. It would be desirable to have a minimum 
list of words, scientifically determined and pos- 
sessing sufficient flexibility to be relevant to 
men and women living under the many different 
conditions found in our country, as a basis for a 
curriculum, but not as the curriculum itself. 
At present no such list exists. 

Where single words are the unit of instruction, 
the prevailing method of teaching is that used 

194 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

by teachers of French, German, Spanish, and 
Italian in explaining the meaning of nouns. 
The teacher points to the object and says, 
"This is a hat"; "this is a coat." After pre- 
senting a number of objects the teacher reviews 
the words taught by using the formula, "What 
is this?" and the pupils reply, "This is a hat." 
The procedure has some justification in teaching 
a highly inflected language like French or Ger- 
man, where the teacher's problem is to fix in the 
pupil's minds the form of the article denoting 
gender and case. The teacher of French repeats, 
"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" because the pupil must 
be drilled to repeat, "C'est la bouche," and, 
"C'est le nez." The teacher of German asks, 
"Was ist das?" because the pupil must be taught 
to say, "Das ist der Kopf, die Nase, das Auge." 
In teaching English, however, with its undif- 
ferentiating articles and its uninflected nouns, 
this procedure is meaningless and wasteful. The 
method does not serve the purpose for which 
teachers of other modern languages use it, nor 
does it serve the purpose of fixing the meanings 
of the words intended to be taught. As a result 
of the frequent repetition of "this is," "that is," 
"there are," "those are," the pupil does indeed 
learn to speak these comparatively unimportant 
phrases, but he does not learn the meanings of 
the nouns which follow except by accident; he 
rarely retains them because he cannot use them 
except in a formal way in answer to such a 
question as the teacher has asked. The failure 
to impress the word through a variety of asso- 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

ciations in use makes it difficult for the pupil 
even to remember its meaning, to say nothing of 
using it in an original way to convey a meaning. 

The synthetic process, using isolated words as 
the unit of advance, is not generally employed by 
trained teachers to-day except as an occasional 
device to make the meaning of a new term clear 
by objectifying it. The difference between build- 
ing up a vocabulary for future use by the "this 
is," "that is" process and teaching the meaning 
of a word by associating it with an object im- 
plies distinction between a method and a device. 
For service as a method — i.e., in building a vo- 
cabulary — it is useless; as a device for clarifying 
meanings it is valuable. The best way to teach 
the meaning of the word "ceiling" is to point to 
it and not to talk about it; but to continue the 
process by naming the objects in the classroom, 
the parts of the body, the occupations of the 
pupils, is a method for building a catalogue 
rather than a vocabulary. 

III. The content of instruction in grammar 
has recently undergone shrinkage as a result of a 
clearer definition of its purpose and value in 
helping the pupil to speak, read, and write 
English. In teaching English to English-speak- 
ing pupils, grammar is taught for some of the 
following reasons : first, to facilitate understand- 
ing of difficult passages by determination of 
syntactical relationships; second, to establish 
principles for the resolution of a doubt when 
habits of expression fail to settle it — e.g., 
whether to say, "I knew it to be she" or "I knew 

196 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

it to be her"; third, to impart scientific knowl- 
edge of the tools of language; fourth, to furnish 
a medium for elementary logical training. No 
illusions are entertained that grammar helps 
toward an understanding of meanings which are 
not otherwise understandable, or that grammar 
helps the pupil except in rare instances to use 
English more effectively as a medium of com- 
munication. Teachers rely rather on habit- 
forming exercises than on formal conjugations 
and declensions to impress correct English idiom 
on their pupils. 

Educated non-English-speaking adults, how- 
ever, frequently desire instruction in English 
grammar because they know that in other Euro- 
pean languages correctness of expression depends 
largely on a knowledge of grammatical inflec- 
tions. Teachers therefore have sought to satisfy 
this natural craving for correctness by organizing 
then instruction on a grammatical instead of on a 
psychological basis, without realizing that in 
comparison with other languages English is a 
grammarless tongue. This accounts for the dis- 
pute as to whether English instruction should 
begin with nouns or verbs; it results hi teaching 
principal parts of verbs to pupils who cannot 
use any one part in sentences, and in the teaching 
method of exhausting the possibilities of a verb 
by conjugating it in all persons and numbers. 
The fundamental error in all such instruction 
is that the teacher is thinking of the subject 
matter and not of the pupil and of the latter's 
needs in expression. Certainly at the beginning 

197 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

little is to be gained by spending time on con- 
jugations. The knowledge so acquired is useless 
for some time to come; the pupils cannot go 
into the street or into a shop and say, "I see, 
thou seest, he sees," and when the time comes to 
use a pronoun he finds it embedded in a series 
into which he must dig before he can produce 
the correct one. However, after the learner 
has habituated himself to use correct forms, it is 
desirable to present a schematic outline of the 
difficulties which he has mastered. Except for 
such appreciation of grammatical relations, it is 
doubtful whether grammar functions in the fa- 
miliarization of foreign-born p'upils with English 
speech. 

ANALYTIC METHODS SOUND 

Analytic processes of teaching are based on 
the psychological principle that the mind 
works "from the undefined whole to the parts, 
back to the defined whole"; that our first per- 
ceptions take in vague entities which are later 
split up into elements as we find them of 
value. Modern methods of teaching children 
to read apply the principle by beginning with a 
story, then teaching the recognition of entire 
sentences, then of phrases, and finally of single 
words and phonograms. The letters of the 
alphabet are not usually taught until children 
are able to recognize at sight a great many whole 
sentences, single words, and phonograms. 

The principle first received emphasis in the 
teaching of language through Frangois Gouin's 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

psychological analysis of his efforts in mastering 
a modern language so as to be able to use it in 
talking. Go urn's labors led him to believe, first, 
that the ear, not the eye, is the instrument of 
learning to speak a language; second, that an 
understanding of isolated words, even of all the 
words in the dictionary, does not insure an 
understanding of, much less an ability to use, 
spoken words; third, that to insure such ability 
a larger unit than the word must be found, and 
that it may be found in connected series of 
sentences from which words are analyzed; fourth, 
that the meaning of an expression must be made 
clear to the learner by associating the sentence 
with the idea represented; and, hence, fifth, 
that understanding of oral symbols is the basis 
for reading or writing, and must precede them, 
both to insure direct association and to prevent 
confusion in pronunciation. 

APPLICATION BY GOTJIN 

On the basis of these sound pedagogic principles 
Gouin elaborated a method in which the theme 
or topic is the unit of instruction and the mean- 
ing of single words is made clear inductively 
by the context and by a variety of uses to which 
the words are put in sentences. In Gouin's 
procedure, "a theme is a general end accom- 
plished by a series of related acts." For example, 
the teacher conceives a general end, as: going 
to the door; getting up in the morning; taking 
a bath; eating breakfast; washing the dishes; 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

going to work; coming to school; looking for a 
job; taking money to the bank. 

The teacher's first problem is to select a 
suitable theme. This selection is guided by two 
considerations: first, the content of the theme 
must be of value to the pupils; for example, to 
lumbermen the theme "sewing on a button" 
will not be as useful as it will be to tailors; 
second, the English sentence structure and the 
vocabulary must be that of daily life and not 
of the classroom. This is perhaps of even greater 
importance than the information contained in 
the content, because the worth of the lesson 
must be judged by the knowledge of English 
imparted rather than by the information pre- 
sented about objects and processes. Sentences, 
phrases, and words must therefore be such as 
the learner may put to use in communicating 
his ideas in the life beyond the school. As will 
appear later, the difficulty of constructing such 
sentences in the theme is a serious limitation to 
its use as a complete method. 

The next problem for the teacher is to organize 
a series of sentences which shall describe the 
accomplishing of the general end conceived in 
the theme. Thus the teacher develops the theme 
"getting up in the morning": 

I open my eyes at six o'clock. open 
I push back the covers. push 

I jump out of bed. jump 

I stretch out my arms. stretch 

I wash myself. wash 

I dry myself with a towel. dry 

I dress myself. dress 

200 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

The sentences of a theme must not only be re- 
lated to the theme subject — i.e., conform to the 
principle of unity — but must be coherently re- 
lated, growing out of one another and bearing to 
one another some such relationship as that of 
sequence in time, cause and effect, etc. Gouin 
insists that the words "and then" are understood 
after each sentence. This principle of coherence 
is an essential element in the method and is psy- 
chologically sound. Connected sentences are 
more easily remembered than disconnected sen- 
tences or words because, first, they have mean- 
ing; and second, each sentence is in a setting 
and helps to recall every other sentence with 
which association by contiguity has been estab- 
lished, just as one line of poetry helps to recall 
a contiguous line. The sentences are short and 
simple, so that only one idea is presented at a 
time. Thus, the meaning of the sentence, "I 
push back the covers," may be demonstrated by 
action; the pupil can associate with the act 
only the one meaning expressed in the sentence. 
Were the sentence complex or compound, a 
wrong meaning might be got out of the drama- 
tization. 

Gouin sets up the verb for emphasis by repeat- 
ing it in the column at the right in his theme 
examples, because "the verb is the living center 
around which, in the phrase, gravitate all nouns, 
whether subject or complement, with all their 
train of prepositions and adjectives." To put it 
simply, the verb is emphasized because the mean- 
ing of a sentence expressing action may be made 
14 201 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

clear by performing the action. The other ele- 
ments of the sentence are then pointed out by 
later analysis. 

The procedure for developing the theme in- 
cludes eight processes: 

1. The teacher performs the act and speaks 
the sentence — e.g., "I open my eyes." The first 
appeal is therefore through the ear, and the 
association established is directly between ex- 
pression and idea. 

2. The pupils perform the act and speak the 
sentence. This supplies a supplementary asso- 
ciation between the idea and the spoken words 
of the pupil. 

3. The teacher performs the act, speaks the 
sentence, and writes or prints the words on the 
board. Some teachers permit pupils to read these 
sentences as developed in a text. Tins gives 
another form of association — i.e., idea, spoken 
words, written words. 

4. The pupils perform the act, speak the sen- 
tence, read it from the board — again a triple 
association. 

5. The pupils copy the sentence. 

6. Pupils write the sentence from dictation 

7. The pupils write the sentence from memory. 

8. The teacher approves the efforts of the 
pupil at all stages by encouraging him in such 
words as "Good," "That's right," "Try again," 
"I like that." Such expressions Gouin calls 
"subjective language." The purpose of subjec- 
tive language is to speed the pupil on and at the 
same time to teach him the meanings of expres- 

202 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

sions which cannot be objectified and dramatized* 
The complete development of a theme usually 
takes three or four lessons. 

DANGER OF DOGMA IN METHODS 

The Gouin theme method is valuable in so far 
as it is based on sound principles, and no farther. 
It is not a universal formula for the teaching of 
language, and when used without an understand- 
ing of the truths on which it is grounded it 
becomes even more mechanical and formal than 
other less attractive methods. By way of sum- 
mary, it may be said that the Gouin method is 
sound when it insists, first, that language is best 
taught through a content couched in unified, co- 
herent, serial language; second, that sentences of 
this content must be understandable for the pupil 
by direct association through objectification or 
dramatization; third, that sentences must be 
short to prevent confusion; fourth, that themes 
must be short to facilitate memorizing. 

The Gouin method of theme construction has 
been widely used and generally adapted to meet 
special requirements. Such adaptations have 
usually been rebaptized, so that, unfortunately, 
to people unfamiliar with the basic Gouin method 
each adaptation becomes a new discovery. The 
most widely known of such adaptations are the 
lesson leaflets published by the Association Press, 
the leaflets published by the Ford Motor Com- 
pany, and the recent bulletin, Teaching English 
to Non-English-speaking Selectives, issued by the 
office of the Provost-Marshal General. 

203 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

On the whole, these themes are constructed in 
the light of sound principles of method. But the 
same fatal tendency to apotheosize the form and 
to lose sight of the reason back of the form is 
evident in all of them. For example, in the Ford 
leaflet series, English for Ford Men, Lesson No. 1, 
"Looking for Work," is drawn up as follows: 

works John works for the Ford Motor Co. 

asks He asks Mike, "Would you like to 

work for Ford?" 
says Mike says, "Yes, can you get me a 

« j° b . ? " 

answers. . ."I will try," answers his friend. 

asks John asks the boss of his depart- 
ment: 

give "Can you give my friend a job?" 

asks The foreman asks, "Is he a good 

man?" 

answers. . .John answers, "Yes, he is a good 
worker." 

think "I think I can use him," says the 

boss. 

writes He writes a note and says: 

give " Give this to your friend and tell 

him 

come To come to the employment office 

to-morrow." 

goes Mike goes the next day to the Ford 

works. 

shows He shows the note to the watchman. 

leads The watchman leads him to the em- 
ployment office. 

takes off. . Mike takes off his hat and sits down. 

comes The employment officer comes to 

him. 

shows Mike shows him the note from the 

boss. 

204. 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

It is apparent that no good pedagogic reason 
exists for such an arrangement of sentences, and 
it can only give an inexperienced teacher the 
belief that somehow this artificial formulation 
makes instruction in English easy. These sen- 
tences cannot be dramatized; if they can be 
understood without dramatization there is no 
need for the form of a theme. The setting off 
of the verbs at the left, the chopping up of an 
otherwise perfectly good paragraph, are hocus- 
pocus. The sentences are not coherent; a pupil 
who forgets what the second sentence is, is not 
helped to remember it by going back to the first 
sentence. 

Experience in using the Gouin method has 
demonstrated that it is extremely valuable with 
beginners when teachers and pupils cannot under- 
stand one another in English. The method then 
serves as a means of communication between the 
pupils who understand no English and the teacher 
who does not understand the language of the 
pupils. The universal language of action, made 
effective by the mimetic powers of the teachers, 
is a temporary substitute for verbal expression 
and a means of teaching new language forms by 
association. Very shortly, however, when pupils 
are able to speak a little English, the need for 
objectifying becomes less urgent and pupils make 
themselves understood in the little English at 
their command. English is now used to give 
greater command of English, and objectifying is 
resorted to only on occasions when the pupil's 
command of English is inadequate. The highly 

205 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

artificial theme form, the short staccato sen- 
tences, and the unvaried sentence structure give 
the pupil a perverted notion of the English lan- 
guage. But beyond all this, the fact that the 
theme structure does not lend itself readily to 
the introduction of conversational expressions 
while still preserving the advantages of the theme 
idea, makes it necessary to discard the formal 
arrangement of sentences in series just as soon 
as the theme has served the purpose of helping 
the pupil to understand simple English and to 
use it. No advantage is gained by sticking to 
the form, by writing paragraphs as if they were 
stanzas, by placing a word at the right of each 
line, by incorporating in the theme sentences 
which are not serially connected and which can- 
not be made clear by connecting them with ideas 
presented by demonstration. 

An illustration of a persistent orthodox adher- 
ence to the theme form is furnished by the other- 
wise excellent themes in Teaching English to Non- 
English-speaking Selectives. Lesson 46 is entitled 
"The Family." 

married My friend is a married man. 

children He has a wife and tlrree children. 

boy — girl He has two boys and one girl. 

father — mother I have a father and a mother. 

sister — brother .... I have a sister and a brother. 

relatives I have other relatives. 

babies The Germans have killed many 

mothers and babies. 
slaughter The Germans have slaughtered 

many children. 
206 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

butcher The Germans have butchered 

many old men and women. 
broken The Germans have broken their 

promises. 
barbarians The Germans have been like the 

old barbarians. 

fight I am going to fight the Germans. 

protect I shall fight them to protect my 

family. 
England If they beat England they would 

come here. 

beat We must beat them. 

victory We shall gain victory. 

The very fact that this theme form is found as 
late as Lesson 46 is an indication that the spirit 
of the theme has departed, and "only the letter 
liveth." By the time the learner has had a dozen 
themes he will have acquired the ability to under- 
stand simple English and to speak many sen- 
tences. He will by this time recognize the arti- 
ficiality of the instruction he is receiving and 
wonder where the English which is taught in 
school is spoken. It is not uncommon for teach- 
ers to use the theme form with advanced pupils 
as well as with beginners. The writer was pres- 
ent in one such school when a rather intelligent 
Bohemian, speaking English fairly well, was as- 
signed to an advanced class. Ten minutes after 
entering the room the man returned to say that 
he was going home. When pressed for a reason, 
he said: "This is the third school where I have 
tried to learn English. They all say * I go to the 
door,' and I'm going." 

207 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

The theme method lends itself admirably to 
giving the pupil a body of language for future use. 
In its method of development it is analytic, pro- 
ceeding from the larger to the smaller, from the 
theme topic to the sentences, and from these to the 
words; through each theme the pupil has learned 
to speak a number of connected sentences, to un- 
derstand the meanings of these sentences, and to 
understand a great many words. Moreover, he 
has learned all this by associating the language 
forms directly with the ideas represented. 

ANALYTIC-SYNTHETIC METHODS 

If the teachers stopped there they would not have 
helped the pupils to use words in sentences, and 
sentences to express larger thoughts; hence the 
necessity for supplementing the pure theme 
method by a process which shall go on from 
where the theme leaves off, for following the 
analytic process by a synthetic process. 

Realizing the necessity of breaking up the 
concatenation of sentences in the theme into the 
various permutations and combinations of words 
and sentences which make up our daily speech, 
Professor Walter has invented a technique, the 
so-called "Frankfort variation," which derives its 
name from the city in which it was first used. 
In this method the teacher, after he has developed 
a number of themes, directs the pupils to make 
sentences about things seen rather than about 
things done. Thus the pupils describe the acts 
of another person rather than their own, as when 
they say: 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

You are walking into the room. 

You are sitting down. 

You are taking a book. 

You are opening a book. 

You are reading. 

You are closing the book. 

The possibilities for changing person, number, 
and gender, and in English particularly for teach- 
ing the progressive form of the verb, have made 
this addition to the pure Gouin method valuable. 
The variation is possible, however, only after the 
pupils have learned the sentences of a number 
of themes, and is applicable only to sentences 
learned through the theme. 

A type of analytic-synthetic method very 
much used where a socialized atmosphere pre- 
vails in classes, is the method of dramatizing life 
situations. The chief purpose of the method is 
to bring some phases of the pupil's outside-of- 
school life into the schoolroom, thus providing a 
content which centers in the pupil rather than in 
the teacher. As a by-product of directly relating 
the lesson to the everyday home, industrial, rec- 
reational, and intellectual interests of the pupil, 
there results, first, a more thoroughly motivated 
lesson than is possible with subject matter care- 
fully graded with respect to language difficulties, 
and, second, a means for fixing the compara- 
tively few idiomatic conversational expressions 
required by anyone in talking with English- 
speaking people. 

After exercise with a number of themes, when 
the pupils are beginning to try to talk, the teacher 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

suggests that two pupils dramatize the buying of 
a hat, or finding one's way, or asking for a posi- 
tion. The pupils may have read lessons in the 
textbook on these very topics and they may have 
had themes on them; nevertheless, experience 
has shown that rarely will they be able to con- 
duct a conversation of four or five sentences in 
idiomatic English without direct training in con- 
ducting such conversations. To the teacher the 
pupils' attempts at original oral composition are 
extremely valuable, indicating the kind of lesson 
as well as the nature of the subject matter needed. 
Thus the teacher suggests that "hello" is not the 
proper expression to use in addressing a clerk in 
a store, nor is the retort, "What you want?" 
proper from the clerk. The class is called upon 
to offer suggestions. A fairly well advanced 
class, such as would profit by a lesson of this 
kind, would probably be able to offer a great 
many suggestions picked up in the shop or on 
the street, some of them of doubtful value. The 
teacher selects only a few good expressions, 
places them on the board, and instructs the 
pupils to copy the expression which they like 
best. 

PRINCIPLES, NOT PRESCRIPTIONS 

Teachers of English to the foreign born are be- 
ginning to resent the question, "What method 
do you use? " It is a healthy sign that the peda- 
gogy of the subject is outgrowing its infant stages 
with their attendant illnesses. In the beginning 
the methods of teaching were regarded as sets of 
210 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

mutually exclusive, sometimes violently contra- 
dictory, prescriptions; each method was taken 
on the faith of the founder and followed ritualis- 
tically in all its tricks and devices — the more 
occult these were, the better, for only the esoteric 
few were supposed to be competent to under- 
stand the philosophy of the method. Teachers 
to-day no longer hold the view that a single kind 
of procedure can accomplish the many purposes 
for which adults undergo hardships in learning 
our language; rather, they are guided in the 
selection of their methods by the conviction that 
these are unequal tools, to be used as occasion 
demands, and to be laid aside for other tools 
when necessity demands. Competent teachers 
to-day realize the necessity of knowing not one, 
but all methods, and especially the principles on 
which methods are based. Of these principles 
the following are generally accepted: 

1. That language to be taught for the purpose 
of communication must be taught by a method 
which emphasizes communication — i.e., method 
must be direct rather than indirect. Whatever 
else translation methods of teaching English ac- 
complish, they do not enable the learner to talk. 

2. That oral language is relatively more im- 
portant than written or printed, and is the basis 
for work in reading, as both reading and speaking 
are the bases for work in writing. 

3. That the standard for judging the worth of 
a lesson in English is the use to which the in- 
struction may be put by the pupil to-day rather 
than to-morrow. Language forms, vocabularies, 

211 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

exercises, and reading material are relatively 
worth while, as they approximate the standard 
of usableness. 

4. That training toward ability to use a lan- 
guage implies exercise in the forms actually to 
be used, and not exercise in some other forms. 

5. That power to use a language grows by 
healthy exercise in communication and is not 
built up by assembling letters, by building vocab- 
ularies, or by conjugating verbs. 

6. That the process of teaching requires a 
continuing adjustment of the teacher's method to 
meet constantly changing conditions, and that 
it is most unwise to rely on any single procedure, 
most of all on such as are advertised as all- 
inclusive. 

7. That however the content of instruction 
may be specialized in factory classes as opposed 
to schools, there is no special method of teaching 
English in factories any more than there is a 
special method of teaching it in churches, in 
settlements, in lodges, in the country, or in the 
city. 

8. That it is just as important for teachers 
of factory classes to be trained for their task of 
teaching English as it is for school-teachers. 
It is unreasonable to expect that foremen and 
superintendents will be able to teach English 
after five lessons in any method, no matter how 
clever they are. The wide advertising given 
to short courses qualifying inexperienced persons 
to teach English has tended to discredit the teach- 
ing of English and to put it on a low plane. 



METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH 

9. That the work of teaching English to for- 
eign born requires a training specialized, inten- 
sive, and sufficiently broad to call for the highest 
professional skill, and in order that the teaching 
be kept at its maximum efficiency it must be 
supervised by specialists in the work. 

10. That, finally, the responsibility for pro- 
viding opportunities to learn English, as the first 
step in the process of Americanization, rests not 
on him who is to be Americanized, but rather on 
American society. We want our immigrants 
to learn our language; we want them to be 
Americans. The method of shifting the burden 
to the foreign born has failed. We can no 
longer rest content with opening schools and 
then counting the number who avail themselves 
of our generosity. The quantitative standard, 
the interest in "How many are you teaching?" 
must give place to the qualitative standard, 
to the interest in "What and how are you teach- 
ing?" We must bring home to our new Ameri- 
cans the possibilities of learning the language 
of America. But we must not stop with getting 
them into the schools; we must not cool their 
ardor and dull their zeal with our own ineptitude. 
The school in many cases is the first American 
institution which touches the lives of our citizens- 
to-be. For them the school typifies America. 
Let their experience be such that the school 
claiming their first allegiance may be the means 
of extending the spirit of loyalty until our new 
Americans appreciate all that our flag symbolizes. 



VI 

MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

Efficiency, important as it is in educational 
work with children, has far greater significance 
in the teaching of English to foreign born. For 
the degree of their Americanization and their 
comprehension of American ideals and customs 
is often directly related to their command of the 
English language. 

In the day school much of the recent progress 
has been the direct result of the application of 
measurement and scientific methods of investi- 
gation to educational problems. The teaching 
methods of the evening school do not differ 
radically from those of the day school, and the 
teaching staff is often drawn largely from the day- 
school personnel; it is probable, therefore, that a 
similar application of measurement to the prob- 
lems of the evening school would do much to 
increase its effectiveness. 

This chapter will report the results of an 
attempt to apply measurements to the work of 
teaching English to immigrants. 1 This depar- 

1 This phase of the study has been made possible through the co- 
operation of Mr. Morris E. Siegel, assistant director in charge of 
evening schools, New York City; Mr. M. J. Downey, director in 
charge of evening schools, Boston; and Prof. William A. McCall, 
211 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

ture, however, was in no sense a survey, and is 
not to be taken as such. Those responsible for 
evening-school classes are often keenly conscious 
of the limitations and restrictions under which 
their work is carried on. If conditions were 
favorable, they could and would be glad to 
remedy many of the defects. The purpose of 
this chapter is not criticism, but illustration of 
the ways in which measurements may be used to 
secure information essential to the intelligent 
prosecution and control of evening-school work. 

SCOPE AND AIM OF TESTS 

In order to make certain tUat no unfair inferences 
should be made from the results, it was decided 
to prepare a series of lessons based closely on the 
regular work of the New York City classes in 
English for foreign born, but differing in content; 
the tests used were then derived directly from the 
lessons. Thus neither the tests nor the lessons 
measure the regular work. They do illustrate, 
however, certain principles of test construction^ 
and the way in which tests are used. Finally, 
to illustrate the experimental method of deter- 
mining questions of policy, arrangements were 

instructor in educational measurements, Teachers College, Colum- 
bia University. Mention should also be made of the principals, 
teachers, and students of the classes tested, and of those wbo took 
part in the giving of the tests, the observation of the teaching, the 
scoring of the papers, and the tabulation of the results. The writer 
is also under special obligations to Mr. John B. Schamus, supervisor 
of classes in English for foreign born, New York City, who gave 
lavishly of his time and skill in the preparation of the tests and 
lessons, and in the supervision of the teaching; without his counsel 
and assistance very little could have been accomplished. 
215 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

made for a control experiment to measure the 
effect of supervision. After the experiment in 
New York was well under way, it was decided 
to repeat parts of it in the Boston evening-school 
classes, but under slightly changed conditions. 
The study as a whole, therefore, illustrates a wide 
range of applications of the science of measure- 
ment to educational work. 

The phases of work selected for measurement 
were oral and silent reading, English composi- 
tion, spelling, and ability to carry on a conversa- 
tion with a stranger. Tabulations of the results 
will be found in the Appendix. Since the lesson 
material had no permanent value, only rough 
measurements and standardization were at- 
tempted. There was no time for the repeated 
trials and experimental modification essential to 
the production of true standard tests; on the 
other hand, the tests actually used should have 
a suggestive value, as showing the type of work 
in test construction which is easily within the 
reach of any school system or teacher. 

By far the most important problem in connec- 
tion with any educational endeavor is the ad- 
justment of work to individual differences in 
ability. A concrete illustration of such adjust- 
ment is the problem of grading. For example, 
an immigrant entering an evening school is ready 
to be assigned to a class. If he can neither write, 
read, nor speak English, the problem is simple; 
he is sent to a beginner's class. If, however, as 
is often the case, he has already some command 
of one or more phases of work in English, the 

216 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

problem becomes complex. In most schools at 
present the assignments to grades are made on 
the basis of the principal's or teacher's estimate 
of ability after a brief and superficial examina- 
tion. Accordingly, the first questions the present 
inquiry attempted to answer were, "Is the present 
grading of pupils efficient — that is, does it operate 
to produce groups of pupils fairly homogeneous 
with respect to ability? If not, what are the 
effects of poor grading, and can measurement be 
used to improve the situation?" 

STANDARDS FOR GRADING PUPILS 

A comparison of the results by grades shows 
that in all the abilities measured by the tests 
there is improvement in grade averages from grade 
to grade (Table IX l and Diagram 6) ; that 
is, the tests measure abilities which are being 
changed by class work, so that it becomes possi- 
ble to define ability in terms of grade standards. 
Thus (Table X) 2 an immigrant entering the New 
York evening schools in March, and measured 
by the tests used in this investigation, should be 
assigned to a first-year class in reading if in the 
silent-reading test he answers less than six ques- 
tions in two minutes, and if his accuracy for the 
whole test is less than 68 per cent. For these 
are the scores halfway between the average 
scores of the first and second years, and form 
the demarcation line between the two grades. 
Similarly, a new pupil would be assigned to a 

1 Appendix, p. 391. 2 Ibid., p. 392. 

15 217 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

second-year class in spelling if his score in the 
spelling tests fell between 24 per cent and 42 
per cent, and to a third-year class in composi- 
tion if his score fell above 64 per cent. These 



Diagram 6. — Standard Scores by Grades, in Tests of 
Immigrant Classes in New York and Boston 



BOSTON 



SILENT READING 



jUI 



Questions answered per two minutes 3 



ORAL READING 



IT 



200 150 100 50 

Seconds to read all paragraphs 



60 

40 

i 20 


100 
80 
60 
40 
20 





1 


2 3 4 
COMPOSITION 


























. y/--- 


,**"' 




























1 


I 


i 


1 



scores may seem low, but it should be remem- 
bered that the tests were constructed for testing 
both second-year and third-year classes on a 
uniform basis. 

218 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

It is probable also that in addition to the tests 
in specific academic work there should be a meas- 
urement of general mentality. Tests of this char- 
acter suitable for foreign born illiterate in their 
own languages will soon be available, and should 
contribute much to facilitate assignment of new 
pupils to classes where the work will be within 
their grasp and of immediate value to them. In 
other words, the grading of pupils can be easily 
and quickly accomplished by means of standard 
tests. 

DEFECTS IN PRESENT GRADING 

Two important questions will at once arise in 
the mind of the reader: (1) How far do the 
average scores for a grade represent real grade 
standards — that is, to what extent do all second 
or intermediate-grade classes make the same 
scores? and (2) In terms of such grade stand- 
ards, what is the range of ability in classes at 
present? 

The answer to the first of these questions 
is indicated in Table X. For instance, it 
will be seen that the score midway between 
the average scores of first-year and second- 
year classes in New York in rate of reading 
is 6.5, and the score midway between the 
average scores of the second-year and third- 
year classes is 8.5. All classes whose scores 
in rate of reading fall between 6.5 and 8.5 
may properly be rated as second-year classes 
in ability. Of ten second-year classes in New 
York City, four fell within the grade limits 

219 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

in rate of reading, four in quality of reading, six 
in spelling, and five in composition. For ten 
intermediate classes in Boston, the correspond- 
ing figures were: rate of reading, three; quality 
of reading, three; spelling, four; and composi- 
tion, three. These results show that different 
second-year classes vary widely in ability from 
school to school in both cities. Similar results 
could be shown with other tests and for other 
grades. At present, therefore, a given grade in 
an evening school does not stand for a definite 
level of ability (Diagram 7). 

Objective measurement serves also to reveal 
deviations from grade standards. Thus in Table 
X, Class G of the New York group is shown 
to score well above the second-year limits in most 
subjects, while Class B of the Boston group falls 
below the second-year limits. The significance 
of such facts from the point of view of supervisory 
control should need no comment; but in view 
of the many misunderstandings which have 
arisen in regard to measurement, it is necessary 
to point out that while tests reveal conditions 
they do not in any way show causes. Thus, 
on the basis of the results tabulated for these 
two classes, it would be wrong to make the infer- 
ence that the teacher of Class G is a teacher of 
exceptional ability, and that the teacher of Class 
B is correspondingly poor. The facts in the case 
may be just the opposite. The scores are merely 
a result, and at best can do no more than indicate 
what the pupils did with the tests under the 
given conditions. Teaching is but one of many 

220 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

factors in the situation. The examiner may have 
given the tests very differently in the two classes, 
or the classes may have been composed at the 
outset of pupils of very unlike abilities, or one 



Diagram 7. — Comparisons of New York Second-grade Class 
Scores with Standard Scores 



SILENT READING 





NUMBER QUESTIONS ANSWERED 
PER TWO MINUTES 






B. 


p.n 


7rt 




7ft 


E. 


1-3. 


7fi 




an 


H. 


qn 


Q7 


1. 







SILENT READING 
PER CENT OF ACCURACY 



,73 



.64 



-62 
.58 



STANDARD SCORE 
Class A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
G. 
H. 
I. 
I 



SPELLING 
PER CENT OF ACCURACY 



COMPOSITION 
PER CENT OF ACCURACY 



.59 
-66 



class may have been tested at the close of a 
period of direct teaching of the subject matter 
of the tests, while the other had not such train- 
ing. No valid interpretation can be attached to 
the results of tests in the absence of a knowledge 
of the conditions under which they were given 

221 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

and scored. But precisely herein lies their value. 
For it is possible to keep all known conditions 
under control, and then unexpected variations 
in class scores will be signals, warnings, that some 
unusual factor is operating. One of the purposes 
of measurement is to bring such variations to 
light. If no steps are taken to make the neces- 
sary modifications, the measurement itself is of 
no value; but in the hands of a competent super- 
visor, the results from tests supply just the in- 
formation needed to enable him to perform 
efficiently his function of investigating such 
variations, determining their causes, and making 
the adjustments that may be needed. 

A good illustration is furnished by a com- 
parison of the test results for New York and 
Boston, respectively, given in Table IX. 
On a simple reading of these, the teaching in 
New York City would seem to be much more 
effective than that in Boston. Such a con- 
clusion, however, is entirely unwarranted, for 
it is known that in New York the tests were 
given only to a few selected classes, while in 
Boston all classes were included. Moreover, 
some of the other conditions under which the 
tests were given were not the same in the two 
cities; therefore no legitimate inferences in 
regard to the relative efficiency of the work in 
the two cities can be made from a comparison 
of the figures in the tables. Suppose, however, 
that the conditions had been made the same 
in the two cities, and that the evening-school 
work was under the direction of the same super-. 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

visor: it would then be evident that the work in 
Boston was not going as successfully as that in 
New York, and it would be the supervisor's duty 
to find the reason and take such steps as proved 
necessary to eliminate the disturbing factors. 

The answer to the second of the questions 
raised above in regard to present conditions of 

Diagram 8. — Distribution of Individual Scores in Spelling 
with Reference to Grade Limits 

NEW YORK 




Third Grade 
Class P 



BOSTON 




Advanced 
Grade 
Class P 



grading is found by selecting an intermediate 
class of standard ability and classifying the in- 
dividual members with reference to the same 
grade standards (Table XI 1 and Diagram 8). 

1 Appendix, p. 393. 

223 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Thus, 44 per cent of the pupils of a standard 
second-year class (Class F, Table X) were 
found to be of first-year grade in spelling, 20 per 
cent of second-year grade, and 36 per cent of 
third-year grade. Similar results were obtained 
for other subjects, for other grades, and for both 
cities. This wide variation in ability within a 
single class cannot be said to be a condition 
peculiar to evening-school work. Survey reports 
on day-school classes show that a similar con- 
dition is a constant feature of all mass instruction. 
The results mean, simply, that present methods of 
grading in both types of schools are utterly 
inadequate. Efficient grading alone cannot solve 
the problem, however, because even if homogene- 
ous groups are formed by selection after measure- 
ment, individuals differ so in rate of progress 
that in a short time the original condition is 
reproduced. The remedy is to be sought in 
new methods of classroom procedure which will 
permit of greater adaptation of the work of an 
individual to his measured needs. 

QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION 

The attempt was made to determine the effect 
of poor grading — i.e., of including pupils of 
varying grades of ability within a single class — 
upon classroom instruction. Two facts are clear- 
ly indicated by an analysis of the data secured: 
first, the membership of evening-school classes 
is constantly changing; second, those who with- 
draw are often those whose abilities deviate 

22* 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

most from the average for the class. The data 
for these conclusions follow. 

The problem of maintaining constant enough 
attendance in evening-school classes to make the 
results worth while is a serious one. In the 
absence of state or city compulsion, voluntary 
attendance is bound to be uncertain and irregular 
at best. Intellectual work at the close of a long, 
hard day is not intrinsically inviting, and school 
exercises have to compete with the various forms 
of recreation and relaxation which are so plenti- 
ful in our big cities. The ties that bind the 
immigrant to his task have little strength. Am- 
bition and friendship for teacher or classmate are 
two of the most potent; but dissatisfaction with 
any of the evening-school conditions, or with the 
benefits obtained, results in immediate with- 
drawal. The enrollment and attendance records 
show that, small as is the number of the foreign 
born who apply for training as compared with 
the total number in need of it, the number who 
actually persist through a considerable interval 
is smaller still. 

For instance, in this investigation tests were 
given at the beginning and at the end of the 
inquiry. In New York the interval from the 
first test to the second was one month, or twelve 
lesson periods. In Boston the interval was 
shorter — twenty-one days, or ten lesson periods. 
Yet in that short interval, if the figures for the 
two cities are combined, more than 40 per cent 
of those present for the first test were not present 
for the second, while of those who took the second 

225 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

test 20 per cent were new students (Table XIIa 1 
and Diagram 9). In Boston, the percentage of 
those leaving declines from 48 per cent for the 
beginner's classes to 40 per cent for the advanced 



Diagram 



-Turnover in Attendance Between First and 
Second Tests 



478 
tew York 

pupils I Present at first test 

teste* 

[56% 




542 
Boston 

pupils |, Present at first test. 

tested 



entering after first test. 



classes. The New York classes show an irregular 
curve of defections, but the percentages are based 
on a smaller number of cases. 

Many of these withdrawals are for legitimate 
reasons, and a comparison of the average scores 
made by those who leave with the average scores 
of those who stay does not yield any very clear 
indication in regard to the type of pupil who 
withdraws (Table XIII). 2 The scores of these 
pupils in relation to the scores of those who stay 

1 Appendix, p. 395. 2 Ibid., p. 396. 

226 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

are about as often higher as lower. A tabulation 
and analysis of the individual scores in a single 
test was made to show the number and per- 
centage of pupils who stayed or left. In each 
grade one hundred unselected cases * were divided 
into three groups, according to their ability 
scores. The basis for grouping was the follow- 
ing: the whole range of scores was divided into 
the lower quarter, middle half, and upper quar- 
ter, and the cases were grouped according as 
their scores fell within these three divisions. 

If ability had no effect on a pupil's staying or 
leaving, practically the same percentage of pupils 
would have stayed or left in each ability group. 
Comparison of the percentages of defection for 
the respective groups indicates the type of stu- 
dent tending to withdraw. Of those who left in 
the beginner's grade, more than 50 per cent were 
of the very able, or the very poor — in other words, 
those to whom the work was least suited. In 
the other grades, as the average ability of the 
class rises, the withdrawals in the lower quarter 
are a larger and larger percentage as compared 
with the withdrawals in the other groups (Table 
XIV 2 and Diagram 10). This means that to 
hold the interest of the immigrant and to win 
from him persistent effort, the evening-school 
work must be sufficiently within his grasp to 
give the pleasure and stimulation of conscious 
success. 



1 There were only eighty-six tests of pupils in the Boston ad- 
vanced classes. 

2 Appendix, p. 39G. 

227 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

All that has been said about standards and 
variation applies equally to changes in score 
caused by teaching effort. Measurement at the 
beginning and end of a teaching period yields 

Diagram 10. — Proportion of Boston Pupils Stating and 
Leaving Divided According to Ability 

I. J Those wtio stayed. Hfl Those who left. 



RANGE OF ABILITY. 




fatermediate Lgm 

Grade __jB>MP9>Mm — 

jg 



grade standards of average progress (Table XV). 1 
The results achieved by individual teachers vary 
widely in relation to these standards (Table 
XVI). 2 The changes range from absolute loss 

1 Appendix, p. 397. 2 Ibid., p. 398. 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

to gains of from 50 to 60 per cent of the possible 
gain — and the individual members of a class vary 
as widely in the degree to which they profit by 

Diagram 11.— Variations in Individual Pupil's Gain in 

Spelling Ability in New York 
Bars represent numbers of words spelled correctly by individuav pupils 



J At first test 

■ Gained at second test 



fn second year class 



In third year class 









1 23 


% 






1 23 


ti- 






I 22 


ll 






1 18 


Hi 






1 16 


ll 






1 15 


M 






t 15 


\M 




6 






tx 
I 


1 



OS 

i 



\~ 20 









1 19 


If 






1 19 


I 3 I 






I 18 


14 






1 18 


)i 






1 17 


141 






1 16 


KdU 






1 14 


I 






1 12 


14 






I « 


MR 


2 U 


-i 



the work of the teacher (Table XVII 1 and Dia- 
gram 11). 

Thus, on the average (Table XVI), second- 
year classes in New York improved 16.5 per cent 
(from 30 per cent to 46.5 per cent) in average 
accur acy of spelling during the interval of the 

1 Appendix, p. 399. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

experiment, but of ten second-year classes one 
improved as little as 4 per cent and one improved 
as much as 28 per cent. Similarly (Table XVII) 
in a class which made very nearly the standard 
gain, one individual made the same score at the 
end as in the beginning, while at the other ex- 
treme one individual gained eight words out of 
twenty-five, or 32 per cent. 

TESTS AS AID IN SUPERVISION 

The importance of such measurements should 
be self-evident. A supervisor visits a classroom 
for a brief period once or twice during the year, 
and must base his estimate of work accomplished 
on this brief observation; a test reveals the total 
change that has been produced in the course of 
the year. As has been stated before, however, 
inferences are to be made only on the basis of a 
knowledge of conditions. A good teacher, given 
a class of unusually poor pupils, will make less 
gain than a poor teacher with a good class; an 
influenza epidemic may cause the scores of both 
classes to fall far below what they would other- 
wise have been. But whatever the factors oper- 
ating, tests reveal with scientific accuracy what 
the conditions are at the close of the teaching 
period. The skill of the supervisor lies in his 
ability to investigate classes making less than 
normal progress and discovering and remedying 
the obstructing factors. In both day and evening 
schools, supervision at present consists mainly 
of inspection. It serves to keep teachers and 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

principals "on the job," but from their point of 
view the benefits of supervision are nil. 

The figures for evening classes are similar to 
those for day-school work, and mean that the 
educational process in general is woefully ineffi- 
cient. At best very few individuals get any ade- 
quate return for their time and effort, while 
many are actually worse off than when they 
began. A careful study of the results set forth 
in Tables XV, XVI, and XVII, which are better 
rather than worse than the average, should con- 
vince any thoughtful person of the need for the 
development of more effective methods of 
teaching. 

EFFECT OF TEACHER TRAINING 

As the lesson sheets for this study involved sev- 
eral features which were new and which re- 
quired explanation, it was resolved to attempt 
a measurement of the effects of such explana- 
tions. Accordingly, ten of the New York teachers 
met with the supervisor for an hour on each of 
three evenings, while ten did not. At the first 
of these meetings very fine and complete instruc- 
tion in the use of the lesson sheets was given by 
the supervisor, in the form of a lecture which 
served as a direct preparation for the work of 
the first three nights. The second and third 
meetings were given up to discussions of diffi- 
culties encountered, successes achieved, and 
suggestions for further effort. The teachers 
expressed themselves freely as to the benefit 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of such conferences and the need for similar 
supervision. They were paid for their attendance 
at these meetings. 

Evidence of the effect of the supervision was 
sought in three ways: (1) in the manner in which 
the class work was conducted, (2) in the progress 
made, and (3) in a comparison of the attendance 
figures. To compare the manner in which the 
supervised and unsupervised classes were con- 
ducted, special paid observers visited each class 
each night, and recorded the amount of time 
given to each division of the lesson, and the char- 
acter of the relation between teacher and pupils. 
The teachers were also rated as to the degree 
to which they made use of objective illustrations 
from daily life and encouraged self-directed ac- 
tivity on the part of their pupils. 

The records of eight different observers for 
each teacher were averaged. The observers 
found marked differences both in the length of 
the active sessions and in the teachers' distribu- 
tion of time over the lessons. There were marked 
differences also in the teachers' attitudes toward 
their pupils. 

Although in all the schools the buildings were 
open and the teachers were on duty the full 120 
minutes intended for an evening session, the 
actual length of session varied from 85 minutes 
to 110 minutes. The cause of this shortening of 
the session was the lateness of the pupils in 
arriving, in itself a measure of their interest in 
their work; however, the average length of ses- 
sion per night is very nearly the same for the two 

232 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

groups, and the distribution of time among the 
different activities does not vary greatly (Table 
XVIII). 1 The supervised group of teachers put 
slightly more emphasis on silent reading and 
slightly less on oral reading and spelling, in 
accordance with the instructions of the super- 
visor. 

A similar variation was found in the methods 
of teaching. Although the teacher receiving the 
highest rating belonged to the supervised group, 
and the teacher receiving the lowest rating to 
the unsupervised group, in both groups teachers 
of both high and low rating occurred. The 
median rating for the twenty teachers was 3.69 
out of a possible 5.00 points. In the supervised 
group, seven teachers were rated above the 
median, while only three in the unsupervised 
group made this rating (Table XIX). 2 The 
supervision, therefore, probably affected slightly 
the methods used by the teachers. 

In progress of pupils the differences were small 
and the results inconsistent (Table XX) ; 3 on the 
whole the ratings were slightly in favor of the 
supervised teachers. It is probable that the dif- 
ferences were as large as it is reasonable to expect 
for so short an interval. 

The variation in class attendance for the two 
groups was very nearly the same (Table XXI). 4 
The unsupervised group proved to have the 
slightly greater holding power, but attracted a 
correspondingly smaller number of new students. 
These results are again inconsistent and are 

1 Appendix, p. 399. 2 Ibid., p. 400. 3 Ibid., p. 400. 4 Ibid., p. 401. 
16 233 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

probably to be explained as the effect of factors 
not included in the scope of the inquiry. 

As a whole, therefore, the experiment must be 
judged to have yielded inconclusive results. 
The effects of the supervision were small, if any. 
Nevertheless, the experiment shows plainly the 
need of supervision, illustrates the method by 
which the effect of regular supervision might 
be determined, and gives point to the presump- 
tion that it is the duty of supervisors to prove 
by measurement the worth of their services. 

COMPARING TEACHING METHODS 

In view of current educational theory and the 
evidence of differences in the methods used by 
teachers, it seemed wise to compile the results 
according to methods used. Accordingly, three 
groups of six teachers each were formed, groups 
fairly comparable in size and ability of the pupils 
comprising their classes, but differing in the em- 
phasis placed by the teacher on the self-directed 
activity of the pupils — that is, in Group I 
were placed the teachers with the highest ratings, 
and in Group III the teachers who tended to 
arbitrary and academic instruction. 

As before, it was sought to ascertain the effects 
of the differences in method in three different 
ways. With respect to average length of session, 
the results indicate that the teachers with formal 
methods secured greater promptness in assem- 
bling, with consequent increased length of session, 
but the differences were not large (Table XXII). 1 

1 Appendix, p. 402. 

234 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

In actual progress achieved, Group II, composed 
of the average teachers or those making use of 
both kinds of method, of some measure of self- 
directed activity and of some features of formal 
teaching, seems to show the better results, al- 
though again the differences are small and the 
results inconsistent (Table XXIII). 1 As regards 
attendance, the results for the first and second 
groups are nearly the same, better than those 
for the third group with respect to percentage 
of new pupils enrolled, but not better than those 
for the latter group with respect to holding 
power (Table XXIV). 2 

In this experiment the grouping of teachers 
on the basis of method does not yield data which 
differ greatly from those of the preceding tests, 
for which teachers were grouped on the basis of 
supervision received. In a similar experiment 
carried out under normal conditions, schools and 
teachers could be so chosen as to yield groups 
comparable except for a single factor. 3 Under 
such conditions the effect of this factor could be 
accurately determined. 

SELECTING SUBJECT MATTER 

One further type of measurement result will 
be discussed which is of vital importance in edu- 
cation work with immigrants — i.e., the selection 
by measurement of suitable material for class- 

1 Appendix, p. 403. 2 Ibid., p. 404. 

3 See School and Society, vol. x, No. 238, "Measuring the Effects 
of Supervision in Geography." 

235 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

room use. In the composition test, the pupils 
wrote sentences of their own composition. The 
words misspelled in these sentences were tabu- 
lated and checked against the Ayres spelling 
scale (Table XXV » and Diagram 12). In both 



Diagram 12. — Distribution of Spelling Errors in Com- 
position Test for Each Set of Words 
in Atres Spelling Scale 



NEW YORK 



BOSTON 







v> 




— 


2 1 - 

ui 
u. 

P 9 


n 


:*": 


■z. 

UI 

o 
cc 

°- 6 


r-r-j- 


" Tn 














-fff 




Tf' 


" =td=rn m 



.ABCDEFGHl JKLMNOPQRSTUyWXYZ 

Sets d Words in Ayres Spelling Scale 

cities more than 66 per cent of all the errors in 
spelling made, and nearly 50 per cent of the 
different words misspelled, were found in the 
Ayres scale. 2 The Ayres spelling scale consists 
of the one thousand most frequently used words 
of the English language, arranged in twenty-six 
sets, each set being designated by a letter of the 

1 Appendix, p. 405. 

2 Measurement oj Ability in Spelling, Leonard P. Ayres. 

236 



MEASURING PROGRESS IN ENGLISH 

alphabet. The words in set A are very simple, 
as "me," "do"; the words in set B are a little 
more difficult, and so on. The mode for both 
New York and Boston classes falls at set J. 
The first ten words in set J are "seven," "forget," 
"happy," "noon," "think," "sister," "cast," 
"card," "south," "deep." On the average, such 
words are spelled with an average accuracy of 
84 per cent by third-grade children, and with 
an accuracy of 100 per cent by sixth-grade 
children. Yet these were the words most fre- 
quently misspelled when used spontaneously by 
adult foreign born. 

It is apparent also that the type of words such 
classes for foreign born need to study are those 
found in sets G to L. According to Ayres, third- 
grade children spell all these words with 15 per 
cent of accuracy. A score of 75 per cent for a 
given group of words is usually taken as indica- 
tion that this group is the proper subject of study 
for the group in question. The spelling needs of 
immigrants in the evening classes, judged by 
frequency of errors, would therefore seem to be 
those of third-grade children. In other words, 
most of the content of the special lessons used in 
this investigation and in the regular work of 
evening schools is over the heads of the pupils 
and beyond their needs. 

The conclusion is that in the selection of suit- 
able material, and in the organization of courses 
of study, measurement should be constantly used 
as an aid in determining what subject matter is 
of most worth. Choice of content should not be 

237 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

left to the eccentricities of textbook makers or to 
the passing and unchecked whims of the teacher. 
If the actual needs of the immigrant, as expressed 
in his own projects, are not to determine the work 
done, there should be careful evaluation by 
measurement of the difficulty of the subject mat- 
ter used for class work. 



USEFULNESS OF TESTS 

Many other illustrations of the application of 
measurements to educational problems might be 
given, but those described above should make 
clear the chief functions of measurement in edu- 
cation. These may be summarized as follows: 
(1) Defining the goals or standards of instruction 
and evaluating subject matter in terms of these 
goals; (2) measuring the abilities of classes or 
individuals and determining their abilities and 
needs with reference to the established standards; 
(3) determining, after an attempt has been made 
to bring about the desired changes, the degree 
of success achieved. On the basis of such testing, 
teaching and supervision can be intelligently 
directed, the most efficient methods selected, 
and the effectiveness of the educative process 
continually improved. 



VII 

EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

The previous chapters have emphasized the fact 
that the attention of the American public has 
been focused on the problem of the education 
of the immigrant adult. The fact has been 
brought out that to-day America is awakening 
to the truth of the situation and is becoming 
grimly determined to bring the message of Ameri- 
can ideals within the reach of all its inhabitants 
who are of foreign birth. Herein lies a great 
opportunity and as considerable a source of 
danger, because the problem of the education of 
the foreign born as an aid to Americanization is 
not at all the same as that of training the imma- 
ture child. 

The pupils in our evening schools have from 
twenty to sixty years and more of experience 
behind them. They are in the midst of life, and 
under the pressure of life's insistent demands. 
Their desire for education and their specific needs 
are clearly defined. To be acceptable, the train- 
ing the school offers must meet then' needs im- 
mediately, adequately, efficiently. Can it be 
truly affirmed of the courses now given in our 

239 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

evening schools that they do meet the situation 
in such manner? 



CONVENTIONAL TEACHING DOGMATIC 

Consider, for instance, the present status of 
classes for teaching English to foreign born. 
Passing over the inadequate financial provision 
which limits the number of sessions, ignoring the 
fact that adults must sometimes sit in seats 
meant for children and study from texts and ma- 
terials designed for childish minds, forgetting the 
unfavorable conditions, such as the strain of one 
or two hours of intellectual effort at the close of 
a long, hard day, let us consider only that the 
conception of education which pervades all such 
work is the conventional one of a teacher who 
teaches and of learners who learn. 

Conventional work in education, whether in 
the elementary school or in the university, pro- 
ceeds largely on the assumption that the teacher, 
because of his superior knowledge, skill, or power, 
is able to do something to the pupils which trans- 
forms them into more capable beings so far as 
the field of study in question is concerned. Ac- 
cordingly, the teacher carefully studies his sub- 
ject matter, organizes it in ways which seem to 
him most effective, and during class time carries 
out his prearranged plan, the pupils submitting 
passively to his direction. As a result, conven- 
tional education is dogmatic, the teacher is an 
autocrat, the good pupil a submissive creature 
who yields unquestioning obedience and indus- 

2-10 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

triously applies himself to the tasks set by his 
instructor. 

This general attitude and scheme of things 
carries over into evening-school work. Teachers 
are recruited largely from the day schools; the 
classes are held in day-school rooms; texts, 
courses of study, and methods of work are 
adapted from day-school practice. In addition, 
the pupils are foreign born, creatures whose queer, 
strange ways tend to call out in the teachers the 
instinctive feeling of superiority which as day- 
school teachers they have even for the incapable 
or the immature. 

PARTNERSHIP, THE BASIS OF TEACHING 

The superstition that ability may be trans- 
mitted by instruction has its origin in the fact 
that all men continually profit by the exchange 
of experience. If my friend discovers a way to 
tie a knot which is better than the method I use, 
I can learn from him if he is willing to help me, 
and he can teach me if I wish to learn. Analysis 
of the process, however, shows that in life suc- 
cessful teaching has three essential characteris- 
tics: (1) It is a friendly service rendered by one 
individual to another on such a basis, and under 
such conditions, that each recognizes and respects 
the individuality and independence of the other; 
(2) the behavior of the two individuals is con- 
sciously dominated by a common purpose — the 
achievement by the learner of an immediate and 
well-defined result; (3) the teaching consists in 
setting the pupil an example of ivhat to do, in 

241 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

giving him a chance to try, and in aiding him to 
overcome his difficulties and mistakes. 

To the superficial thinker conventional teach- 
ing may seem to fulfill all three of these conditions, 
but the fact of the matter is that it violates 
all three. The conventional teacher thinks of 
his class much as a surgeon thinks of a deformed 
body which he is to cut and mold into more 
perfect form, or as a captain thinks of his troops 
as by his command he arranges them in a given 
formation. In one sense the teacher is conscious 
that it is his duty to be of service to his pupils, 
but his conception of service is not that connoted 
by the word as used above. In his mind, the 
measure of his service is too likely to be the effort 
he expends, and not the resulting benefit. The 
whole tone of the relation between pupil and 
teacher is affected by this difference. In both 
day and evening-school work, this accounts for 
the almost complete ignoring of the needs and 
desires of the pupils and the adoption of mass 
methods of instruction. 

It will be said by many that at least both 
pupil and teacher have a common purpose — that 
the immigrant's purpose is to learn English and 
the teacher's purpose is to teach it. Yet these 
two purposes are by no means identical, and this 
is one of the sources of trouble. However, the 
real difficulty is that to learn English is such a 
large, vague, general aim, and the ultimate 
achievement deferred so long, that neither 
teacher nor pupil has any conscious realization 
of the oneness of their aims, nor any sense of 

242 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

accomplishment, both of which are essential to 
continued effort. To teach a class of foreign born 
English is an impersonal, routine job; but to 
help an immigrant to write a letter answering an 
advertisement which he wishes to answer and 
cannot, from lack of skill in writing, is to set up 
a common purpose. Moreover, in rendering a 
service so direct and personal, there is little dan- 
ger of wrong relationships being established, or 
of consciousness of the personal nature of the 
service being lost. 

Finally, there is the question of method. 
Nothing in the foregoing is meant to imply 
that thought, care, and preparation are of no 
value. On the contrary, the third condition of 
teaching postulated above calls for more careful 
preparation and greater elaboration of method 
than yet prevails. Conventional teaching com- 
mands the learner to perform certain acts in 
the order which seems to the teacher desirable. 
True teaching aims to assist the learner to act 
as the teacher acts. Now the most vital char- 
acteristic of the teacher's activity is that it is 
purposive and self-directed. When teacher and 
pupil really have a common purpose, and when 
the teacher really desires to serve the learner by 
helping him to achieve his purpose, then both 
strive by common consent for complete self- 
initiated, self-directed activity on the part of 
the pupil. 

The opportunity before America to-day is 
that of organizing educational work for immi- 
grants on a true service basis. We have reason 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

to hope that great efforts in Americanization 
are about to be made. Existing facilities and 
methods are admittedly inefficient; desirable 
changes made now would not only increase the 
effectiveness of Americanization activities but 
would react favorably upon all educational work. 
It is worth while considering, therefore, what the 
organization of educational work on a service 
basis means in terms of practical adjustments. 
The most important element in the new order 
would be recognition of the purpose of all educa- 
tional work for immigrants as that of assisting 
them in their participation in American life, and 
helping them to make effective use of American 
institutions. Evening schools would be thought 
of as a city's educational service stations, to which 
any foreign born could go and obtain free in- 
formation, explanations, training, or assistance of 
any kind of which they stood in need. There would 
be no required work, no grades, no courses of 
study. The teacher's business would not be to 
teach in the sense in which that term is ordinarily 
understood, but to assist; the work would be indi- 
vidual and determined wholly by the needs and 
desires of the pupils. The equipment would con- 
sist of maps, directories, newspapers, time-tables, 
pictures, books, and other articles which in their 
uses in the life of a city prove puzzling to 
foreign born. 

THE "UNIT TASK" 

Suppose that a non-English-speaking immigrant 
without friends planning to go from one city 

M4> 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

to another attempts to buy a ticket of a sta- 
tion agent at a busy time. His reaction is 
likely to be one of confusion, loss of confidence, 
and an awakening appreciation of the desira- 
bility of learning English. Suppose now that 
this immigrant goes to one of the new type of 
evening schools. On entering, he is met and 
welcomed by the member of the school staff who 
is most able to gain his confidence and diagnose 
his needs. The immigrant himself knows only 
that he wants to learn to speak English, but by 
dint of questioning through a student interpreter 
the real basis of his desire is discovered. Accord- 
ingly, a railroad ticket, money, a time-table, 
map, cards with the names of the cities, signs 
common to railway stations, pictures of each 
stage of the journey — buying a ticket, taking a 
train, etc. — and other material essential to a 
dramatization of the scene, are taken from the 
school's supply-room, and with these the im- 
migrant goes to a teacher of beginners. For the 
next half hour the pupil receives the undivided 
attention of the instructor; the whole process 
of buying a ticket is acted out; the immigrant's 
pronunciation of the names of the cities to and 
from which he wishes to go is improved, the 
words "ticket," "dollars," "time," etc., are 
comprehended in meaning and sound, and asso- 
ciated with the printed symbols. The pupil is 
then sent to a study hall to practice the use of 
his newly acquired words and sentences for some 
time by himself. Finally, the lesson is reviewed 
with a teacher once more, and the man sent 

245 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

home with a little printed pamphlet containing 
the words and pictures of the evening's work so 
arranged that he can teach himself. As he de- 
parts the immigrant is conscious that the school 
has rendered him just the service he desires, 
that he has made progress toward his goal, that 
further progress is dependent wholly on his own 
efforts, and that unlimited possibilities of receiv- 
ing assistance in making many other adjust- 
ments to his new and strange environment 
are his for the asking. The teacher, also, 
is conscious of the progress made, and of 
the personal character of the service he has 
rendered. Both teacher and pupil know just 
how much of their common purpose has been 
achieved. 

Let us suppose that on the following night the 
immigrant returns, and that a brief review 
shows the lesson of the previous night well 
mastered. A proud and happy pupil would then 
be ready to receive in a few minutes all the 
instruction needed to start him on the acquisition 
of a score of new words, signs, and sentences, 
practice in the use of which would keep him 
busy most of the evening; only occasionally 
would there be appeal for the assistance of the 
instructor, and again he would take away with 
him printed material upon which to work at 
home. As he gained confidence, and under the 
guidance of his friendly teacher, he would ven- 
ture to use other English words that he heard, 
words not directly connected with his immediate 
project. His vocabulary would grow with in- 

246 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

creasing rapidity; in a very few evenings he 
would estimate his command of English to be 
sufficient for his immediate needs, and could 
leave for the other city. His English pronuncia- 
tion would not be of the best, his idioms would 
be faulty, his abilities limited, but the victory 
would have been won. He could "speak Eng- 
lish " well enough for his purpose, he would have 
learned that he could acquire English, and he 
would have started on the road that leads to 
Americanization. For in his hour of need 
America came to his rescue, America did him a 
favor; and out of the gratitude that in such cases 
spontaneously wells up in the heart is born that 
wonderful spirit which in its fullness makes the 
immigrant say, "I want to be a citizen of this 
country. When I was in trouble she extended 
a helping hand. She gave me the chance I 
craved, the opportunity I did not have in the 
country from which I came. Through her in- 
stitutions, I have found freedom to achieve 
my heart's desire. My home is here. My 
children go to her schools. Now this coun- 
try is dear to me. I will give my life for 
her if she is in danger. For I, too, have be- 
come an American." 

No one knows better than the writer how ready 
all educational workers will be in one breath 
to commend a scheme of educational service 
to the foreign born as ideal, and in the next to 
condemn it as utterly impractical. However, 
this chapter is written not with the idea that 
any sudden transformation of evening-school 

247 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

work is possible, but rather with the idea of 
pointing out opportunities, and of suggesting 
desirable lines of experimentation. This much 
is certain: the millions of immigrants who are 
already a part of our complex civilization are 
daily finding themselves out of adjustment with 
American ways and American institutions. A 
visit to any railway station, any post-office, 
or any police court will show countless instances 
in which a very little teaching of essential words, 
a very little explanation of rules and regulations, 
would be of inestimable service to bewildered 
immigrants and a direct aid in their assimilation. 
Is it not pertinent to inquire how far this fertile 
field is being drawn upon as a basis for evening- 
school work? 

Surely the sentence, "I want a ticket," is as 
easy to learn as "I go to the door," and much 
more significant to the Italian or Pole who in 
the past has had only the ordinary ticket agent 
for his instructor. Is it not the duty of those 
charged with assistance of the immigrant to 
canvass thoroughly the city's life and ways, and 
to determine with scientific care all instances in 
which the contacts of foreign born with American 
institutions and customs are giving rise to diffi- 
culties? Many of these would undoubtedly be 
available for "practical" use in the schools. 

SERVICE OR ACADEMIC INSTRUCTION? 

"But," the conventional teacher will say, "no 
amount of such fragmentary help as your scheme 
contemplates will ever teach the foreigner Eng- 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

lish. He must have systematic instruction in a 
regular course of lessons. He must learn to read 
and write as well as speak. He must know 
nouns, verbs, adjectives, paragraphing, punctua- 
tion, and grammar, and a thousand and one 
other things which can only be given by careful 
study of a text under a competent instructor." 
For the conventional teacher has his eye so fixed 
upon his subject matter that he loses sight of his 
pupils and the uses which they are to make of 
what they learn. 

The answers to such objections are many. It 
is possible to show how small a part all formal 
analysis and organization of the subject matter 
of any instruction plays in the actual life expe- 
riences of even the native born. Attention might 
be called to the relative importance of the two 
goals — that of assisting the immigrant in making 
those adjustments which result in his Americani- 
zation, and that of giving him a thorough but 
academic knowledge of English. There is, how- 
ever, one answer which tells the whole story in 
such a way that even conventional teachers can- 
not fail to understand. For instance, in the ex- 
periment described in the preceding chapter, out 
of a group of 853 students in fifty-four classes, 
but 58 per cent of those attending on a certain 
evening were present eleven lessons later. In 
the brief interval necessary for twelve meetings 
of the classes, 42 per cent of the original group 
had dropped out, and new pupils comprising 20 
per cent of the enrollment had taken their places * 

1 See Table XIIa, Appendix, p. 395. 
17 249 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

— that is, under present conditions but very few 
night-school pupils attend continuingly, and 
therefore any attempt at systematic work over a 
considerable period of time is foredoomed to failure. 
The reasons for the attendance conditions 
found in evening schools are many, but important 
among them is the fact previously mentioned, 
that many of the pupils do not see that they are 
getting adequate return for time and effort ex- 
pended. This is strikingly illustrated by the 
attendance record shown in Table VIII, based 
upon a week's work in an evening high school for 
adults in which academic and technical courses 
are offered side by side. 



TABLE VIII 



Average Weekly Attendance of Foreign-born Adults 
in an Evening High School 




Member- 
ship 


Attendance 




Number 


Per Cent 




312 

1S5 

382 

1,436 


171 

• 161 

293 

1,069 


55 




87 1 




77 




74 






Total 


2,315 

528 
564 
168 
591 


1,694 

414 
411 
141 
522 


73 


Semimotivated work: 


78 




73 




84 




88 








1,851 

214 
650 
101 
220 
405 


1.4S8 

214 
578 
92 
187 
314 


80 


Fully motivated work: 


100 




89 




92 




85 




77 ! 






Total 


1.590 


1,385 


87 







High average due to an exceptionally able teacher. 
Three classes of more than one hundred each, handled by one 
250 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

In general, the more closely the school work is 
related to purposes in life outside of school, the 
higher the average of attendance. Evening 
schools being what they are, personal liking for 
teachers, the social pleasure of meeting with a 
group for any purpose whatsoever, a regular en- 
gagement to walk to and from school with friends, 
account for much of the attendance which is 
regular. Under these circumstances nearly any 
reason serves as an excuse for staying away from 
a class. In other words, even under present con- 
ditions, teachers must give lessons, not courses, 
and to continually fluctuating groups. Moreover, 
pupils come not only irregularly, but late, and 
the evening session is correspondingly shortened. 
In the experiment of the preceding chapter, 
although the schools were open and the teachers 
on duty each night for the full 120 minutes 
scheduled for a single session, the best class aver- 
aged but 110 minutes of work a night, and the 
worst class 83 minutes, for the eight consecutive 
lessons for which observations were made. 

Suppose now that the school desired, and was 
equipped, to give assistance to foreign born in a 
number of specific tasks — i.e., learning to sign 
one's name, finding a number in a telephone 
directory, consulting a time-table, writing a letter 
of application, drawing books from a library, etc. 
Suppose that when immigrants came for help 
effort was systematically made to give to each 
one only the help he needed, trusting to the re- 
sulting benefit to produce desire for further study. 
Suppose that printed instructions or aids for 

251 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

these tasks could be taken from the school for 
home study and practice. Would not this indi- 
vidualized work have greater meaning and inter- 
est to the pupil than a prearranged formal mass 
lesson? Would not every immigrant become, 
himself, a teacher and a walking advertisement 
for the evening school? 

PROVIDING FOR INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 

"But," the conventional teacher will reply, 
"your scheme calls for individual instruction, 
and individual instruction, however desirable, is 
out of the question financially." It is true that 
individual instruction on the basis of present 
school work would cost more than most cities 
are willing to pay, but it is not true that the cost 
of teachers and materials would be excessive 
under the new plan of procedure. Only those 
who have tried it can have any appreciation of 
the rapidity with which the pupil learns when 
his work is fully motivated, self-directed, and 
freed from the hampering requirements of aca- 
demic standards. For the first lessons with be- 
ginners, absolutely individual instruction would 
be necessary; but after two or three lessons four 
or five pupils may be handled at one time. Often 
groups of several persons will be interested in the 
same project at the same time, and can be of 
great assistance to one another, working together. 
After the first few lessons, one teacher with prop- 
erly prepared material could probably give all the 
individual assistance needed by groups of from 

252 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

thirty to forty individuals, each working inde ? 
pendently on his own task. 

In popular and conventional thinking individ^ 
ual instruction seems always an impossible ideal, 
because it implies that the teacher exercises his 
miraculous transforming power on each pupil in- 
dividually in precisely the same fashion in which 
he attempts to exercise it on the group as a whole. 
That is, of course, impossible; but individual 
assistance implies that each student is busily en- 
gaged in teaching himself, and that the teacher 
gives assistance only now and then, when it is 
needed. 

Education has for so long been without objec- 
tive standards of measurement that few persons 
realize that individual differences determine the 
effects of teaching just as much as the teacher's 
efforts. Individual differences are commonly 
ignored, and consequently the processes of edu- 
cation are needlessly inefficient. For instance, 
at the beginning of a course of eight lessons in 
spelling in evening classes for teaching English 
to immigrants, a test of twenty-five words was 
given. Of the eight hundred and seventy-three 
pupils tested, 1 per cent spelled every word cor- 
rectly, 10 per cent did not miss more than six 
words, while only 19 per cent missed all of the 
twenty -five words. The tests were given to 
classes of all grades — that is, some were beginners, 
some had already had one year's work, some two, 
some three. In one city the beginners' classes 
made an average score of 14 per cent, the second- 
year classes an average of 34 per cent, the third- 

253 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

year 60 per cent, and the fourth-year 75 per cent. 
Yet none of these classes showed a variation of 
individual ability from lowest to highest pupil 
of less than 48 per cent; some classes showed 
100 per cent; the median variation was 84 per 
cent. That is, the variation of ability in any one 
class is ordinarily more than three times as great 
as the score the average change produced by a 
term's work. Every class is thus really an un- 
graded class with respect to any given subject 
matter. 

The effect of this wide range of individual dif- 
ferences is plainly seen if the effects of the teach- 
ing are studied. If none of the 508 individuals 
present for both the initial and final tests had 
been able to spell any of the words, there would 
have been 12,700 mistakes, and the teachers' job 
would have been to secure finally 12,700 correct 
spellings. Actually, however, there were 4,052 
words spelled correctly in the very first test; that 
is, the teachers' task was 32 per cent completed 
before any teaching took place. Nevertheless, 
the teachers taught all the words, and thus wasted 
32 per cent of their effort. 

The group actually made 8,648 mistakes. But 
at the end of the teaching period, when the test 
was repeated, the group still made 7,067 mis- 
takes. The gain was 1,581 correct spellings. 
The effectiveness of the teaching was, therefore, 
18 per cent — that is, on the average, but one 
mistake in five made at the beginning of the 
teaching was corrected by the work that was 
done in class. In the best classes the effective- 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

ness of teaching, estimated on the same basis, 
rose to 85 per cent, and quite a few classes made 
gains of 40 per cent or more — that is, the best 
classes show from twice to four times the average 
gain. 

It must not be supposed that these results are 
exceptionally poor. On the contrary, they are 
precisely similar to the results secured in day- 
school work in spelling, both as regards range of 
individual ability and efficiency in teaching. 
They are the inevitable outcome of mass instruc- 
tion, which does not take account of individual 
differences. The one way out of the difficulty is 
the devising of forms of classroom administration 
which will permit of adjustment of teaching 
to individual differences without destroying the 
mass formation. 

It is precisely this which the "unit-task 
method" of instruction does. A man can learn 
to write his name and address without learning 
to write in general; he can learn enough English 
to buy a railroad ticket without learning to speak 
the entire English language. He can learn to 
read the signs in a post-office well enough to take 
a money order to the proper window, without 
learning to read all the signs he sees. And the 
proper filling out of the same money order makes 
an ideal writing lesson for evening-school work. 
The unit- task method enables the evening school 
to capitalize the immigrant's desire to learn and 
each of his subsequent successes; it enlists his 
aid in teaching himself. 

The essential elements of individual instruc- 

255 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

tion are two: First, the lessons or tasks or proj- 
ects must each be an achievement complete in 
itself — hence the name "unit-task method"; 
second, the instructions necessary for the assist- 
ance of the individual must be in such form that 
the individual can for the most part teach him- 
self by following them. Even here, however, the 
assistance of the teacher will be needed occasion- 
ally, for this man at one point, for that man at 
another; but after the initial stage has been 
passed one teacher can give individual assistance 
to a large group. 

SUGGESTED EXPERIMENTS 

"But," the conventional schoolman will object, 
"our work has not been organized on this basis, 
and we could not make the proper preparation 
quickly if we would." This is of course true. 
The whole point of this chapter is not that the 
reorganization of the entire educational work for 
immigrants should be attempted, but that seri- 
ous experimental study of the Americanization 
process should be begun to determine how far 
an evolution of method along the lines indicated 
is practical. 

There are three steps that are within the 
bounds of immediate achievement wherever 
classes of immigrants are taught: (1) teachers 
and principals could be so impressed with the 
ideal of service and its possibilities that their 
attitude toward the foreign born would be totally 
changed, aud a situation more favorable for 

356 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

requests for assistance be created; (2) one room 
in each night school could be devoted to, and 
advertised as, an educational service station, 
to see how far immigrants would respond to 
such opportunity, and how far the assistance 
given could be utilized for educational ends; (3) 
record could be kept of the kinds of service 
demanded, and of the types of situations which 
present difficulties to immigrants. As a comple- 
ment to such records, the life of the city could be 
surveyed and a selection of situations made 
as the basis of such series of unit tasks as would 
be most frequently demanded, and within them- 
selves provide a great deal of general training. 
The proper preparation of these unit lessons 
is an important element in the situation. It is 
hard to believe that the extemporaneous proce- 
dure of the average teacher can equal in effec- 
tiveness prepared directions experimentally 
evolved through the co-operative efforts of, say, 
the ten best teachers available. Little care has 
been given to this phase of educational work; 
the class activities of almost any single teacher 
will yield instances of exceptional skill as well 
as of gross violation of the most fundamental 
principles. What most teachers never do is 
deliberately to plan their work so as to give 
their pupils a chance to teach themselves. The 
potentialities of photographs, moving pictures, 
phonographs, etc., as aids to self -education have 
not been appreciated as yet. If ten teachers of 
exceptional ability co-operated in preparing in- 
structions with which illiterate immigrants could 

257 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

teach themselves enough English to be able to 
conduct the negotiations for renting a room, 
the lesson could be administered by a teacher of 
very ordinary ability with a minimum of train- 
ing, and yet produce exceptional results. 

The ideal of rendering services to the foreign 
born would vitally affect everything about eve- 
ning-school work. For instance, the material 
chosen for reading, or for citizenship classes, 
would be selected with the purpose of making 
use of all that is of value in the heritage of the 
immigrant. It cannot be too much emphasized 
that, "dagos" and "hunkies" though they may 
be called, our foreign born have behind them long 
histories that are as dear and as sacred to them 
as our own stories of the Revolution, or our 
basic institutions, are to us. American ideals 
are but the expression of some of the aspirations 
which are to be found in all races and ages. 
When night-school material is so chosen or writ- 
ten as to tap these hidden desires, great stores 
of energy will be released for educational and 
Americanization purposes. Keeping in mind what 
might be done to make plain to the immigrant 
that America is the land of opportunity, the land 
that will make easy the achievement of his most 
cherished ambitions, the reader is asked to judge 
of the following paragraph, taken from a manual 
for citizenship issued by one of our large cities: 

A citizen of the United States is one who owes allegiance 

to it and to no other country. The laws of the United 

States provide that all persons who are born in the United 

States are citizens of it, even though their parents are aliens, 

258 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

and that all persons except Chinese, who are born in other 
countries, may become citizens by being naturalized. To 
be naturalized is to renounce allegiance to the country of 
which one is a citizen, or to the monarch to whom one is 
subject, and to swear allegiance to the United States. 

From the point of view of an American speak- 
ing to an alien whose continued allegiance to 
his native country is a menace, this paragraph 
expresses forcefully and clearly important truths. 
But is it not pertinent to ask whether or not 
information in regard to becoming a citizen of 
the United States can be couched in language 
more readily understood by the immigrant, 
more certain to appeal to his needs and desires, 
and less likely to arouse in him all those ideas 
and emotions which would set him against a 
change of allegiance? 

Let us consider, for instance, the probable 
effect of the same ideas if expressed somewhat 
as follows: 

The United States is a country made by men who came 
from other lands. In their native homes they found life 
hard, chances few, and improvement slow. So they broke 
the ties that bound them and in this new world made a 
land of freedom, a land of opportunity, where every man 
who tries is respected and has a chance to live in peace and 
happiness. To make these things secure, they set up rules 
and laws to govern themselves and those other men who 
still come from foreign lands. 

Those who are born in the United States are citizens by 
birth, even though their parents were foreign born. Those 
who are born in other lands are allowed by law to join the 
citizenship of the United States, or be naturalized, as it is 
called, but only when they love this country and all she 
stands for better than any other country. Naturalization 
259 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

is for those who wish to become Americans. To be natural- 
ized is to give up allegiance to the country where one was 
born, or to the monarch to whom one is subject, and to 
swear to obey the laws and uphold the constitution of the 
United States. 

The crucial objection to the suggestions of this 
chapter is that they have nowhere been syste- 
matically tried. What is needed is objective 
evidence that a change of method would improve 
the efficiency of evening-school work. This can- 
not be given at present. However, the reader 
should remember also that this chapter is merely 
a plea for a scientific attempt to secure such 
evidence. 



DEMAND OF THE NEW TIMES 

On the other hand, behind the suggestions given 
is a wealth of indirect evidence which is worthy 
of consideration. First, educational theory has 
been moving in the direction of motivation on 
the basis of the needs of the pupil, and of recog- 
nition of individual differences, for many years. 
Recently this movement has been gaining head- 
way rapidly. Second, under pressure of war 
emergencies, military authorities have been 
driven over and over again to mobilizing small 
specific units for instruction, and for limited pur- 
poses and within narrow fields results have been 
secured which must be counted wonderful when 
compared with the slow, painful process of con- 
ventional education. Third, a large number of 
teachers of evening schools now make use in 

260 



EDUCATIONAL SERVICE STATIONS 

unsystematic ways of many of the devices and 
methods for which this chapter contends. 

To-day America stands face to face with what 
is probably a critical time in her history; prob- 
lems press for solution on every hand. Not least 
of these is the need for rapid and efficient Ameri- 
canization of the millions of individuals who at 
present live as aliens in our midst. The most 
hopeful feature of the situation is the attitude of 
these selfsame aliens; they are, in the main, 
favorably disposed toward America, and many 
of them would gladly become Americans if they 
could; they imitate and adopt much of what 
they see around them, but often without com- 
prehending purposes and meanings which lie 
behind outward forms. They crowd into our 
evening classes, but they do not stay. Yet they 
have real and vital needs. Cannot the evening 
schools of our cities so reinterpret their function 
that new methods and new adjustments will meet 
those needs? For, as the present danger from an 
unassimilated foreign-born population is great, 
so also, if unselfish service is rendered, and the 
powers and spirit of many peoples are success- 
fully grafted into the life of our nation, we may 
find that we have entertained angels unawares. 



VIII 

THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

Until very recent years the immigrant desirous 
of learning English as a first step toward Ameri- 
canization was obliged to turn for instruction 
either to the public evening school, or to one of 
the several other agencies offering classes, such 
as factory educational departments, the Young 
Men's Christian Association, and others inter- 
ested in the problem of the immigrant. All of 
these instrumentalities have proved unable to 
handle the task as it should be handled. The 
causes of the failure of the evening school have 
already been discussed. Looming large among 
those causes has been the slowness on the part 
of the public, and not infrequently on the part 
of school people themselves, to appreciate the 
fact that the teaching of the adult immigrant 
is a highly specialized piece of work, requiring 
not only special aptitude, but special training 
as well. For years the evening school was but 
an appendage of the educational system, and 
for years it was felt that anyone could teach 
an evening-school class. At first the teach- 
ing of English and allied subjects in these 
classes was turned over to nonprofessionals, who 
not infrequently worked for the night's wage 

262 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

and for nothing else. Suitable teaching materials 
were almost wholly lacking. It is not strange, 
with such conditions, that the schools failed to 
hold even those who wished to learn. 

More recently we find the trained day-school 
teacher working in these classes for immigrants; 
and while this is no unmixed blessing, inasmuch 
as it means a double burden for teachers already 
burdened enough, it is yet an improvement over 
what has obtained hitherto. It is quite true 
that not every good teacher of children proves 
to be a good teacher of adult immigrants; it is 
also true that teachers trained by normal-school 
methods for day-school work have often made 
the mistake of trying to use this training, without 
adaptation, in their evening-school instruction. 
The presence of the trained teacher in the eve- 
ning school, nevertheless, has marked a step up- 
ward in the efficiency of evening-school work. 

Since 1915, however, there has come to the 
American people, and especially to school admin- 
istrators, a larger vision as to the solution of the 
Americanization problem. No longer is the 
schooling of the immigrant to be an overtime 
task performed by teachers who have only a 
casually appropriate training. Day schools and 
factory classes for immigrants, mothers' classes 
for immigrant women, these and others are all to 
find place in the Americanization plans for the 
next few years. The teachers of these classes 
must be specifically trained; there is a distinct 
pedagogy in this work with adult immigrants, 
and a very distinct methodology. Reference is 

263 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

made throughout this chapter to the teacher as a 
woman; needless to say, much of this teaching 
is and should be done by men. 

KNOWLEDGE OF AIMS NECESSARY 

The teacher of the immigrant must be acquainted 
with these; she must have a knowledge of the 
important aims of her work — namely, (1) what 
she is to teach, (2) how she is to teach, and (3) 
what standard of achievement she may expect. 

The teacher of immigrants must know more 
specifically also what her aims should be in her 
tasks of teaching her pupils to speak, read, and 
write English, and how these aims, as well as 
those implied in other courses for immigrants, 
can best be accomplished. Finally — and this 
is of greatest importance — she must appreciate 
that her big task is the making of Americans, 
and must understand just what that means 
and how it can best be brought about. All this 
means that the teacher must go to school to 
learn another phase of her business of teaching. 
Colleges, normal schools, state departments of 
education, large city school systems — all these 
should take it upon themselves to put the work 
of teacher training in this new field on an estab- 
lished basis; it is very far from being on any- 
thing like such a basis now. 

TRAINING ATTEMPTED BY MANY AGENCIES 

Returns secured through a questionnaire are 
usually unsatisfactory because they are likely 
to be very incomplete. A questionnaire on 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

teacher training for immigrant classes was sent 
out and this case was no exception to the general 
rule; of the hundreds who were questioned, only 
dozens replied. Nevertheless, the results justify 
certain conclusions, and, since these conclusions 
tally with what those people who are best in- 
formed already know, the probabilities are very 
good that the conclusions are correct. The 
figures given below represent returns from public- 
school superintendents and state normal-school 
presidents or principals. 

Information was requested also from indus- 
trial firms, the international institutes of the 
Y. W. C. A., and state councils of defense. The 
returns from these latter were so few as to make 
it inadvisable to report thereon. In passing, 
however, it may be noted that returns from the 
industries or the institutes, even if more generally 
received, could in no way challenge the con- 
clusions. 

The questions which, with their replies, were 
most significant for this investigation, were as 
follows: 

1. How many teachers in your organization have been 
teaching day or evening classes of non-English-speaking 
persons over sixteen years of age? 

2. How many have had only the usual professional train- 
ing, such as is given for day-school teachers in a normal 
school or teachers' college? 

3. How many have had only the special training given in 
a regular course for training teachers of immigrants? 

4. How many have had no training except a short, inten- 
sive course for teachers of immigrants? (Teachers of fac- 
tory classes are usually in this class.) 

18 2G5 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

5. How many have had both the regular professional 
training of day-school teachers and special training for 
teaching immigrants? 

6. From which of the five classes of teachers just men- 
tioned would you prefer to choose teachers for adult immi- 
grants? (Give reasons fully.) 

Sixty-one cities and towns representing nearly 
every state in the Union gave answers to this 
section of the questionnaire. By an overwhelm- 
ing majority the superintendents in these places 
expressed a preference for the teacher possessing 
the qualifications indicated in Question 5 — that 
is to say, they preferred a regular teacher who 
had been specially retrained for this highly 
specialized task. But it is to be pointed out 
that of the total group, 592 teachers, in these 
cities engaged in Americanization work in 1918- 
19, the number of those specially retrained was 
207. It is noteworthy that 157 of these 207 
were in four of the sixty-one cities. This means 
that fifty-seven remaining cities reported only 
fifty teachers with any special training for this 
work. 

These figures are illuminating. Some cities, 
such as Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Akron, 
Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester, did not report; 
in these cities considerable local teacher training 
is now going on, and has been for several years 
past. On the other hand, some of the retraining 
work noted in the reports, and indeed a con- 
siderable part of the retraining work carried 
on in some of the cities most advanced along 
this line, is of the "short-unit" variety, con- 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

sisting of a few lectures or conferences only. 
This is inadequate, as will be pointed out later. 
It would seem to be a fair conclusion that we are 
barely beginning to break ground in this im- 
portant task of retraining public-school teachers 
for Americanization work. 

Such a conclusion with respect to both training 
and retraining is borne out if we consider the 
number of institutions throughout the country 
that have offered Americanization courses for 
teachers. Of the fifty state normal schools and 
colleges that gave answers on this point, there 
were none that offered Americanization work in 
courses of 1918-19; the number of those offering 
extension work of different types was five. 

There is no intimation that these figures pre- 
sent with accuracy the teacher-training situation. 
They present it with reference to state normal 
schools only. They are highly significant be- 
cause they tend to show (so far as answers are 
filed) that state normal schools, which train 
teachers for all work of a grade below the high 
school, are not yet attempting, except in rare 
instances, the task of training teachers for the 
instruction of immigrants. 

State departments of education and of immi- 
gration have, in a few states, played an active 
part in this field since the demand for trained 
teachers has become acute. Massachusetts re- 
ports over 2,000 teachers trained during the 
past two years. Figures are not at hand for 
New York, but this state has conducted numer- 
ous institutes and extension classes. The litera- 

267 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

ture and courses of study for home teachers in 
California furnish the best material published 
on the subject. 

In other states, such as New Hampshire, Con- 
necticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 
the councils of national defense, or similar state 
organizations, have assumed leadership in this 
work. New Hampshire, after directing all its 
teacher-training efforts through the Council of 
National Defense, has recently created a De- 
partment of Immigrant Education, with a deputy 
commissioner in charge who will carry on the 
work that the council has instituted. Connecti- 
cut, during the past year, has had the services 
of several experts in immigrant education, who 
conducted teacher-training classes in large immi- 
grant centers; Maryland opened its state- wide 
Americanization drive with a teachers' institute. 
The Council of National Defense in Pennsyl- 
vania has co-operated with many localities in 
organizing this work. In Ohio, the Council of 
National Defense has issued thousands of book- 
lets intended to give practical help to teachers. 

A few colleges and universities have seen the 
need of offering instruction for teachers of immi- 
grants. Teachers College, Columbia University, 
where the summer school has offered method 
courses for several years past, is probably the 
pioneer. The University of Pittsburg, co-operat- 
ing with the city of Pittsburg, last year reached 
many teachers; the University of Wisconsin, 
the University of California, and the University 
of Akron have likewise been active in this field. 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

In addition, several city normal schools not 
reached through the questionnaire have made a 
beginning in this phase of teacher training. 
The Cleveland Normal School, co-operating with 
the city Board of Education, is the most con- 
spicuous of these. Los Angeles Normal College, 
a state normal institution, has during the past 
school year conducted a course in teacher train- 
ing which has enabled its students to engage in 
actual field work in the Los Angeles schools. 

SUMMER COURSES IN 1919 

The fact that communities have come to real- 
ize keenly the need of the trained teacher to 
cope with the problem of the immigrant is 
evidenced by .the immense increase in summer- 
school Americanization courses offered in 1919 
by colleges and normal schools. Prior to this 
time only very few summer courses in this sub- 
ject were offered. During the summer of 1918 
the state normal school in Hyannis, Massa- 
chusetts, the state normal school in Providence, 
Rhode Island, and the city normal school in 
Cleveland engaged in teacher training; the New 
York state institutes were also operating, and 
New Hampshire made a small beginning by 
offering a short course at the Keene normal 
school. The summer of 1919 witnessed what 
would seem to be the first step in a real drive in 
teacher training. Summer-school work in meth- 
ods for teaching immigrants is not wholly sat- 
isfactory, because of the difficulties often en- 
countered in arranging observation and practice 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

facilities, without which no course on the pro- 
fessional phase of the problem is fruitful. At 
this stage, nevertheless, the increased activity 
of the summer school is encouraging. In the 
character of the courses offered during the year 
1919, one thing is noteworthy: the idea has 
evidently struck home that teaching English to 
immigrants is not all that there is to the problem 
of Americanization. It is evident that the dif- 
ferent institutions have sensed the importance 
of enabling the prospective teacher to answer 
the pertinent question, "What is Americanism?" 
Accordingly, we find many places presenting 
programs of courses in Americanization, in which 
treatment of the professional problem constitutes 
only a part. This, too, is encouraging, indi- 
cating, as it does, an attempt to educate teachers 
of foreign born along broader lines. 

The following enumeration of summer courses 
offered in the summer of 1919, while not com- 
plete, includes all that the investigation has 
revealed : 

1. Columbia University offered a very com- 
plete program of courses in "Americanism and 
Allied Subjects," under the direction of Columbia 
House. Courses in Americanization, as that 
term is usually interpreted, and in teaching Eng- 
lish to foreign born, were included. 

2. At Harvard University there was a six 
weeks' course on "The Education of the Immi- 
grant," intended to train teachers and leaders 
in the field of Americanization. In addition, 
the Massachusetts Security League, co-operat- 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

ing with Harvard, offered two courses on 
"Americanism." 

3. The University of California, in co-operation 
with Los Angeles Normal College, offered an 
extensive program in the field of Americaniza- 
tion; courses in history, government, American 
literature, and various social and economic prob- 
lems were included. 

4. The University of Minnesota gave a program 
of courses covering not only the professional as- 
pects of Americanization work, but also courses in 
immigrant backgrounds and on "Americanism." 

5. The University of Pittsburg held an insti- 
tute on Americanization, comprising lectures and 
conferences conducted by several national lead- 
ers in Americanization work. 

6. Johns Hopkins University had a six weeks' 
course in "Problems in Americanization," de- 
scribed as "a practical professional course." 

7. Syracuse University presented a short course 
in Americanization, entitled "Principles and 
Methods in the Education of the Immigrant," 
with a strong staff of teachers and lecturers. 
This was conducted in co-operation with the New 
York state Department of Education. 

8. The University of Chicago offered a program 
of courses in Americanization and allied subjects. 

9. Of the two courses given at the state normal 
school at Hyannis, Massachusetts, one was de- 
signed especially for teachers, the other for lead- 
ers in Americanization work. 

10. The New Hampshire Normal School at 
Plymouth offered short courses under the direc- 

271 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

tion of the Bureau of Americanization of the 
state Department of Education. 

11. The work given by the Cleveland Normal 
School was not described by courses. 

12. In New York state there were several in- 
stitutes at Albany and other centers similar to 
the Syracuse Institute, under the direction of 
the state supervisor of immigrant education. 
The New York State College for Teachers, co- 
operating with the New York state Department 
of Education, offered a course in "Principles 
and Methods of Immigrant Education." 

COURSES SUPERFICIAL AND INADEQUATE 

The foregoing list of institutions presenting op- 
portunities for teacher training might lead one 
to believe that the situation is being well han- 
dled. Such is not the case. It must be remem- 
bered that up to date, so far as this investigation 
has been able to determine, not a single state 
normal school in the country is offering Ameri- 
canization courses to its undergraduates. The 
courses listed are all of the extension or summer- 
work variety. While this may be satisfactory at 
this early stage, it does not insure that thorough 
training which the problem demands. 

Then, too, the courses offered present some 
striking inadequacies both in method and con- 
tent. Prior to the summer of 1919 most of the 
courses offered were of the short-unit type, eight 
or ten conferences being the average length. It 
is possible to train an intelligent person to exe- 
cute some piece of mechanical work, doubtless, 

272 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

in ten lessons, but one cannot give teachers an 
understanding of the great human problem of 
Americanization in any such time. The short- 
unit course is usually given over to an exempli- 
fication of the methods and principles underlying 
the teaching of English to immigrants. This is 
tremendously important, but the teaching of 
English is only the first step in Americanization; 
it merely opens the door. In passing, it may be 
pointed out that a teacher may know how to 
teach English to an immigrant pupil, but because 
she does not know the immigrant individual or 
his point of view, and especially because she does 
not know what the task of Americanization really 
is with reference to the immigrant, her teaching 
may fail to achieve its purpose. 

With a few notable exceptions the courses 
offered have been largely of the lecture variety. 
No normal school would attempt to train teachers 
without employing observation, demonstration, 
and practice work. If we mean to do the task 
as it should be done, our courses in Americaniza- 
tion must include these activities. 

Not infrequently these courses are given not 
by one or two instructors, but by several, each 
presenting the phase of the matter about which 
he knows most. The result is a lack of unity, 
of coherence; the student goes away with a 
confusion of ideas. Lectures by different peo- 
ple are not out of place in a course of teacher 
training for Americanization work, but they 
should be of a supplementary character. The 
course itself should be in the hands of one indi- 

273 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

vidual, who is responsible for its aims, methods, 
and fundamental points of view. This makes 
for clearness of thought on the part of the stu- 
dent. Anyone who notes the confusing inter- 
pretations that are daily given to the Americani- 
zation problem appreciates how important this is. 

IMPORTANCE OF RACIAL BACKGROUNDS 

Some of the courses included in the programs 
outlined above cannot strictly be called Ameri- 
canization courses. Some of the leaflets issued 
for teachers suggest teaching practices that no 
practical teacher would use. There is a danger 
just now that some of our higher institutions of 
learning, in their suddenly awakened zeal, will 
present work in Americanization conducted by 
people whose first-hand knowledge of the immi- 
grant is very slight. No teacher can be a first- 
class teacher of immigrants unless her knowledge 
of her pupils as human beings is so intimate that 
she can utilize in the fullest measure what the 
immigrant has brought with him from his home 
overseas. The best teacher of immigrants is the 
one who reaches her pupils through the heart as 
well as through the head. To do this she must 
know racial backgrounds and spiritual heritages. 
Courses in history, anthropology, and allied sub- 
jects should be included in a program of work 
intended to train teachers along broad lines. 
Such courses the college instructor may give. 
Beyond this, it must be remembered that the 
teaching of immigrants, especially in the initial 
steps, is a highly specialized and difficult art 

274 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

which requires skill. Training for this skill 
should form a part of every teacher-training 
course of this kind; otherwise we shall have a 
continuance of those very disappointing teaching 
performances that have so long characterized 
immigrant classrooms. It should be pointed out, 
further, that if this practical side of the task is 
dealt with in an Americanization course, it should 
be presented by some one who has had first-hand 
contact with this special type of instruction. No 
teacher of English, for instance, either in normal 
school or college, who lacks this contact, can 
instruct individuals who are to teach English to 
our immigrant neighbors. 

CO-ORDINATION OF TRAINING AGENCIES 

The task is to offer preparation to two classes 
of people: (1) leaders and organizers; (2) teach- 
ers of immigrants and of adult illiterates in 
all the several types of classes that may be 
operated. It should be worked out by the fol- 
lowing agencies: (1) the Federal Bureau of 
Education; (2) state departments of educa- 
tion; (3) universities and colleges; (4) city and 
state normal schools and colleges. 

The special function of the Federal Bureau 
of Education is the stimulation of teacher train- 
ing everywhere. Recent developments would 
seem to indicate that this bureau is keenly alive 
to its responsibilities in this field. The national 
conference of Americanization workers held in 
Washington in May, 1919, gave strong assurance 
that Federal leadership might be expected. The 

275 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

passage of the Keuyon bill or of the Smith- 
Towner bill, now before Congress, would make 
this assurance a guaranty. The millions of dol- 
lars which would be distributed among normal 
schools under the terms of these acts would solve 
the teacher-training problem at an early date; 
such financial assistance is the one thing most 
needed at this time. Apart from this, however, 
the Federal bureau has still the obligation of 
organizing teacher-training activities throughout 
the country. It should also be a clearing house 
from which bulletins should emanate from time 
to time, setting forth the latest and best experi- 
ments in teacher training. 

The special function of state departments of 
education as teacher-training agencies should be 
the organization of teachers' institutes for the 
benefit of teachers in service. Acting in co-opera- 
tion with normal schools and with local authori- 
ties, these agencies should determine the char- 
acter of extension courses of various kinds, their 
length, the requirements for admission, the basis 
for certifying teachers, and like matters. State 
departments of education should furnish instruc- 
tors capable of conducting such courses when 
called upon to do so, and should give assistance, 
through staffs of experts, to communities too 
small to engage expert supervision. Finally, such 
departments should from time to time investigate 
and report upon progress in the training of teach- 
ers for Americanization work, and take measures 
to encourage provision for such training in insti- 
tutions and localities where it is not given. 

276 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

The special and more important function of 
universities and colleges, both in their regular 
courses and through the medium of summer and 
extension work, is that of training men and 
women for leadership in Americanization activi- 
ties. Everywhere it is recognized that Ameri- 
canization is something very much larger than 
the task of teaching English or civics. There is 
a crying need in this field for people of wide vi- 
sion, broad sympathies, and a clear knowledge of 
what Americanization is. As has been indicated 
above, several of our universities have seen the 
larger need, and are already responding to it. 
The more specialized task of training teachers for 
work in the classrooms may well be included in 
this function, but only when the resources and 
equipment of the institution make this possible. 

Normal schools and colleges should offer at 
least one full Americanization course as part of 
the undergraduate work of such teachers as wish 
to become specialists in this field. Observation 
and practice work should be included; twenty- 
four hours of such work should constitute a mini- 
mum requirement. In addition, normal schools 
should regard it as their function to conduct (in 
co-operation with state or local educational au- 
thorities) Saturday courses, summer courses, and 
other courses of the short-unit type. 

OUTLINE OF A COURSE 

It is possible to suggest sections in a course 
in Americanization. Obviously it can do no 
more than hint at the topics that should be 

277 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

included. A short-unit course of ten lessons, 
for instance, intended to enable a factory foreman 
to handle a class in an industrial plant, must 
necessarily gloss over very hurriedly the topics 
in Sections I and II, and emphasize the topics in 
Section IV. On the other hand, the college or 
university may with profit offer several different 
courses on the material suggested in Sections II 
and III. So, too, a state department of educa- 
tion might well offer an extension course of ten 
lectures and discussions covering only the subject 
of immigrant backgrounds. It is impossible to 
suggest a fixed course that would meet equally 
the various needs of various situations; the 
intention is simply to indicate the general scope 
of any one full course that might be given, for 
instance, in a normal school. 

The outline given below of a teacher-training 
course is intended to cover at least thirty hours 
of classroom work, and twenty-four hours of ob- 
servation and practice. 

Section I 

SCOPE, ORGANIZATION, AND MEANING OF THE 
AMERICANIZATION MOVEMENT 

(Lectures, reports, and discussions) 

(a) The immigrant tide, 1890-1915. — Significant statistics; 
Causes of the ebb and flow; Attempts to handle the 
problem during this period; The evening schools, 
their accomplishments and failures; The contribu- 
tions of various private agencies; The lack of pub- 
lic interest and public support. 

(6) Beginning and development of ilw Americanfaatwn move- 
ment. — "America First" campaigns, as in Roches- 

278 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

ter, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, and other places; 
Americanization as affected by the war; The activi- 
ties of State Councils of National Defense; Formu- 
lation of Federal, state, and city plans and cam- 
paigns; Contributions of semipublic agencies — 
National Americanization Committee, United 
States Chamber of Commerce, North American 
Civic League for Immigrants, Immigrant Aid 
Society, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Inter-Racial 
Council, etc.; Analysis of Americanization legisla- 
tion operating and pending. 

(c) Fundamental policies and viewpoints. — Importance of 

guidance and control by public authorities; Legiti- 
mate functions and activities of various nonpublic 
agencies; Larger aspects of the Americanization 
movement; Americanization and the schooling 
question; The policy of compulsory Americaniza- 
tion; The foreign - language question; Foreign- 
language press and school; Americanization and 
our native born — Who is the good citizen? (see 
Section DII) ; The immigrant an asset or a liability. 

(d) Industrial Americanization. — What has been accom- 

plished in this field; Place of industrial Americani- 
zation in the general scheme; Broader phases of 
industrial Americanization: accident prevention, 
health, recreation, etc. 

(e) Americanizing the immigrant woman. — Home and 

mothers' classes; The California Plan; Activities 
of women's clubs in this field; Council of Jewish 
Women; International Institute of the Y. W. C. A. ; 
Women's Municipal League (Boston) ; Difficulties 
encountered, and points of view that should obtain. 

(/) Americanization and the community. — Americanization 
through activities of immigrant groups; The com- 
munity-center idea; community singing, pagean- 
try, and public celebrations; Americanization and 
the housing problem; Americanization and the 
279 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

school nurse; Legal aid for the immigrant; Ameri- 
canization and the public library, etc. 

Section II 

IMMIGRANT BACKGROUNDS 

(Lectures, book reviews, and discussions) 

(a) Racial characteristics and contributions. — Statistics show- 
ing the adaptability of the different races to the 
process of assimilation; Illiteracy as a factor in 
assimilation. 

(6) Americanization as affected by political and economic con- 
ditions in the home country. — Importance of a knowl- 
edge of the immigrant's point of view; The ap- 
proach to the immigrant; Racial ideals and heri- 
tages, and how to deal with them; The question of 
naturalization. 

(c) Literature of this subject. 

Section III 

AMERICANISM: WHAT IS IT? 

(Lectures, discussions, and book reviews) 

(a) American ideals, beliefs, attitudes, and points of view. — 

An analysis in terms that touch the immigrant's 
experience; American Democracy: its promise and 
its perils; The "land of promise"; The privileges 
and opportunities, the duties and obligations of the 
good citizen; The meaning of "equality"; The 
need of capable leaders and intelligent followers; 
The principle of majority rule; The ideal of obedi- 
ence to lawful authority ; The habit of co-operation. 

(b) Survey of the literature setting forth the ideals of Ameri- 

canism. 

Section IV 

THE IMMIGRANT IN THE SCHOOL 

(Lectures, conferences, and practice teaching) 
(a) Aims, methods, and materials in the teaching of English. 
— Place of conversation, reading, and writing; 
280 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

Criticism and evaluation of the several methods 
now commonly used; Principles underlying the 
selection of content, and the adaptation of content 
to the needs of different types of classes; Strength 
and weaknesses of texts commonly used ; Organiza- 
tion of lesson material; Special methods in reading, 
phonics, writing. 

(b) Important teaching principles applied. — Direct vs. in- 

direct method; Teaching by drill; Class activity vs. 
teacher activity; Reaching the immigrant's heart; 
Socializing instruction; Project method vs. class 
method. 

(c) Organization of classes. — Bases for classification, by 

nationality, sex, etc. ; How to get attendance, and 
how to hold it; Fruitful publicity; Number of 
sessions; Suggested standards of achievement; 
Time schedules. 

(d) Aims, methods, and materials in intermediate and ad- 

vanced classes. — Textbooks analyzed and criticized ; 
Inculcating Americanism through history, through 
civics, through participation in school and com- 
munity activities, through readings, lectures, and 
motion pictures, through geography; The socialized 
school; The school center; Training in citizenship 
looking toward naturalization. 

(e) The teaching force. — Who is the good teacher of the 

adult immigrant? Personality and attitude; Knowl- 
edge of Americanism and loyalty to its ideals; 
Special preparation for the task; Application of 
good teaching principles. 

19 



IX 

TREND OF LEGISLATION 

Training for citizenship is the ultimate end and 
the sole justification of the expenditure for edu- 
cation of public moneys raised by taxation. To 
insure suitable training for citizenship for those 
growing up within the nation, public schools 
have been established throughout the country 
under the provisions of state constitutions and 
statute laws. Previous to 1915, however, little 
provision was made either constitutionally or by 
statute to insure suitable training for citizen- 
ship to foreign-born residents. To be sure, 
foreign-born children of compulsory school age 
have received the same educational advantages 
as native-born children; present laws have 
applied to both alike. On the other hand, com- 
pulsory-school-attendance laws in many states 
have not been adequately enforced, and in sev- 
eral states compulsory-school-attendance laws 
are of comparatively recent enactment. 

SLOW SPREAD OF COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE 

The following list taken from the bulletins of the 
United States Bureau of Education, and revised 
to 1919, indicates the year in which initial com- 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

pulsory -attendance laws were enacted in the 
several states: 



Massachusetts 1852 

New York 1853 

District of Columbia 1864 

Vermont 1867 

New Hampshire 1871 

Michigan 1871 

Washington 1871 

Connecticut 1872 

New Mexico 1873 

Nevada 1873 

Kansas 1874 

California 1874 

Maine 1775 

New Jersey 1875 

Wyoming 1876 

Ohio 1877 

Wisconsin 1889 

Rhode Island 1883 

Illinois 1883 

Dakota (North and South) . 1883 

Montana 1883 

Minnesota 1885 

Nebraska 1887 

Idaho 1887 



Colorado 1889 

Oregon 1889 

Utah 1890 

Pennsylvania 1895 

Kentucky 1896 

Indiana 1897 

West Virginia 1897 

Arizona 1899 

Iowa 1902 

Maryland 1902 

Missouri 1905 

Tennessee 1905 

Delaware 1907 

North Carolina 1907 

Oklahoma 1907 

Virginia 1908 

Arkansas 1909 

Louisiana 1910 

South Carolina 1915 

Texas 1915 

Florida 1915 

Alabama 1915 

Georgia 1916 

Mississippi 1918 



It is evident from the table that compulsory 
school attendance has had a very slow growth 
in public favor, following by many years the 
establishment of free schools. It took sixty-six 
years until initial legislation had been enacted 
in every state of the nation. Even now such 
legislation in several of the states is not state- 
wide in its application. In Mississippi, for 
example, before the law can become operative 
in a county or independent district, an approving 
vote of the qualified electors of the district is 
required; by the law of this state minimum 
attendance is fixed at sixty days in each year. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Virginia made its compulsory-attendance re- 
quirements state-wide in 1918, but the present 
law fixes the age limits at eight years and twelve 
years; the attendance requirement is for at 
least sixteen weeks each year. It is reported 
that repeated efforts have been made in the 
legislature of Maryland to repeal the present 
compulsory -attendance law. Certain states have 
yet to make adequate provision for the enforce- 
ment of compulsory-attendance laws. The his- 
tory of such legislation, however, shows steady 
progress, and presages with certainty greater 
future progress. The initial step has been taken 
in every state, and the next advance will require 
merely additional legislation to extend the scope 
of exisiting laws and to render them more effective. 

WAR IMPETUS TO CIVIC EDUCATION 

It goes without saying that foreign-born chil- 
dren and the children of foreign-born residents 
of any state have received no more favorable 
consideration and enjoyed no greater facilities 
for training in citizenship than have the native 
born. In certain communities, too, it has been 
possible for both native and foreign-born chil- 
dren of compulsory school age to satisfy all the 
requirements of the law by attending schools 
in which the English language was not taught nor 
spoken, and in which no attempt was made to 
foster patriotism. The World War discovered 
us to ourselves as lacking adequate provision 
in the public-school system for training in 

284 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

citizenship even for our native-born children, 
and the legislation of recent years evidences a 
conscious attempt on the part of our lawmakers 
to include in public-school curriculums courses 
intended to foster patriotic citizenship. 

A number of typical instances of such legisla- 
tive activity since 1915 may be cited. Con- 
necticut requires the teaching of citizenship in 
the public schools for pupils above the fourth 
grade. In Delaware the state Board of Educa- 
tion must prescribe minimum courses of study 
for elementary and high schools which will in- 
clude courses in geography, in the history of 
the United States and of Delaware, and in com- 
munity civics. Iowa provides that all public 
and private schools, both elementary and sec- 
ondary, shall be required to teach the subject 
of American citizenship. Kansas requires all 
schools, public, private, or parochial, to provide 
and give all the pupils a complete course of 
instruction in civil government, United States 
history, and courses of patriotism and the duties 
of a citizen suitable to the elementary grades. 

Maine authorizes and appropriates money for 
a school text in civics, local geography, and local 
history. Massachusetts provides for training in 
the duties of citizenship in the public schools. 
Michigan requires teachers to read the Declara- 
tion of Independence on February 12th, Febru- 
ary 22d, and October 12th, to pupils above the 
fifth grade; as part of the eighth-grade examina- 
tion for diploma, pupils in this state are required 
to recite from memory the first stanza of the 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

"Star-spangled Banner" and all of "America." 
Minnesota provides that on one day each week 
time not to exceed a half hour shall be devoted 
to patriotic exercises in all public schools. 

Nebraska provides that all public, private, de- 
nominational, and parochial schools shall give in 
the proper grades such courses in American his- 
tory and in civil government, both state and 
national, as will give the pupils a thorough knowl- 
edge of the history of our country and its institu- 
tions and of our form of government, and shall 
conduct such patriotic exercises as may be pre- 
scribed from time to time by the state superin- 
tendent. Nevada provides for civic training in 
the high schools. 

New Jersey requires that there shall be given 
in each high school a course of study in com- 
munity civics and a course of study in American 
democracy, and in the elementary grades a course 
of study in the history, geography, and civics of 
New Jersey, such courses to be prescribed by the 
Commissioner of Education and given together 
with instructions as to the privileges and respon- 
sibilities of citizenship as they relate to com- 
munity and national welfare, with the object of 
producing the highest type of patriotic citizen- 
ship. The state of New York requires "instruc- 
tion in patriotism" in all schools, both public 
and private. Ohio requires study of American 
government and citizenship in seventh and eighth 
grades of all schools, public, private, and paro- 
chial. Pennsylvania requires in every public ele- 
mentary school such instruction conducive to 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

the spirit of loyalty and devotion to the state and 
national governments as the board of school direc- 
tors in any district, with the approval of the 
proper superintendent of schools, may prescribe. 

South Dakota provides that in all educational 
institutions in the state, whether public or pri- 
vate, one hour each week in the aggregate shall 
be devoted to the "teaching of patriotism" and 
the singing of patriotic songs, reading of patriotic 
addresses, and study of the lives of our great 
American patriots. Texas requires in its public 
schools instruction in the history of Texas, and 
also requires every public-school teacher to de- 
vote at least ten minutes each school day to in- 
struction designed to inculcate "intelligent pa- 
triotism." The state of Washington requires in 
its public schools, at least once a week, appro- 
priate flag exercises, at which pupils shall salute 
the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance, and 
prescribes a course of study in American history 
and American government as a prerequisite to 
graduation from its high schools. 

War conditions have likewise given impetus 
to laws requiring the display of the United States 
flag on or near school buildings, and patriotic 
exercises and instruction as part of school cur- 
riculums. There are less than a dozen states 
which do not legally require display of the flag 
on or near school buildings, 1 and recent enact- 
ments would indicate that all states will soon re- 
quire such display. Local communities have 
nearly everywhere, during the stress of war, em- 

1 United States Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 13 (1919), p. 31. 
287 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

phasized and made special provisions for foster- 
ing patriotism — a striking example of local in- 
itiative in this direction is the Lawrence plan, 
discussed in Chapter III. 



ENGLISH THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION 

Another example of the impulse given to school 
legislation by war conditions is the enactment of 
laws designed to make English the language of 
instruction in elementary subjects. While it is 
true that in many states English had been desig- 
nated by law as the language of instruction, it is 
also true that in numerous instances no attempt 
was made to enforce this requirement. It is 
true, likewise, that in many states no such laws 
had been enacted and that in certain states the 
laws requiring that English be used as the basic 
language of instruction either did not include in- 
struction given in private, parochial, and de- 
nominational schools or were disregarded with 
impunity. The enactments of 1918-19 reflect 
an aroused sentiment crystallized by legislatures 
in laws specifying that English shall be the basic 
language of instruction in all elementary schools, 
public and private. Such laws were passed in 
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Idaho, 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minne- 
sota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, 
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, 
Texas, and West Virginia. 

Delaware requires that English shall be the 
only language employed and taught in the first 

288 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

six grades of the elementary schools of and in 
the state, and provides that in case this provision 
is violated by individuals or by private educa- 
tional associations, corporations, or institutions 
the state Board of Education shall take such legal 
action as will enjoin such violation. 

Certain states prohibit the teaching of a for- 
eign language in the elementary grades of all 
schools. Others permit the use of a foreign 
language as a subject of instruction. Some 
states require the exclusive use of English at all 
times in grades below the high school; others 
require that English shall be the language of 
instruction in subjects placed in the curriculum 
by legal requirement. Certain states specifically 
exclude German from all schools. New Hamp- 
shire provides that English shall be the language 
of instruction in required subjects and the lan- 
guage of general administration, but permits the 
conduct of devotional exercises in private schools 
in a language other than English. 

COERCION CARRIED TO EXTREME 

It must be apparent from the trend of recent 
legislation that there can henceforth be no 
question that it is the will of the people that no 
child in America shall be deprived of the oppor- 
tunity of learning the language of America. 
There is, however, a serious question as to 
whether certain states have not manifested a 
tendency to go too far in this direction. The 
absolute prohibition of the teaching of German 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

in any school — elementary or high school or 
college — is an instance of mistaken patriotic 
zeal. It must be remembered that many of the 
recent enactments were the progeny of war 
legislatures, acting under the stress of war con- 
ditions and keenly responsive to war-inflamed 
public opinion. War conditions are rarely likely 
to call forth the best type of permanent legisla- 
tion, and it is quite probable that future legis- 
latures will face the task of repealing or modify- 
ing enactments which have sprung from the 
mistaken zeal of present lawmakers and which 
violate the spirit of American democracy. 

The laws enacted in certain states prohibiting 
instruction in a foreign language in any grade 
below the high school are in direct contradiction 
of the judgment of educators, who are generally 
agreed that instruction in modern foreign lan- 
guages should begin not later than the seventh 
grade. One of the greatest advances made in 
school organization in recent years is the intro- 
duction of the intermediate or junior high school, 
and one of the strongest arguments in favor of 
its curriculum is that children should be taught 
to use a foreign tongue while they are still in a 
formative period of their development, and 
before it is too late for them to master the finer 
shades of correct pronunciation and inflection. 
Laws prohibiting the use of a foreign language 
in grades below the high school not only violate 
all the canons of modern pedagogy but are also 
in a certain sense undemocratic, un-American. 
In addition to depriving native-born children 

290 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

of the opportunity of studying French, or 
Italian, or Spanish, or German, at the age when 
a mastery of foreign idiom and pronunciation 
is most naturally and readily acquired, such 
laws are an unmerited affront to countless 
foreign-born, public-spirited, patriotic citizens. 
Is a man a better American if he forgets the 
land of his birth and if he deprives his children 
of all knowledge of the traditions, art, litera- 
ture, culture, and language of his forbears? 
Surely such a standpoint has no place in true 
Americanism. 

There can, of course, be no question as to the 
right and duty of the state to see to it that all 
children receive adequate instruction in the 
English language and in the history, government, 
institutions, and ideals of the United States, 
and all laws designed to make such instruction 
obligatory on all schools of whatever character 
are highly commendable, but the absolute pro- 
hibition of the use of a foreign tongue under any 
circumstances in grades below the high school 
savors of the dictatorship exercised in an auto- 
cratic state and can scarcely hope to win ap- 
proval in the ultimate tribunal of democracy — 
public opinion. 

Many such laws likewise have been un- 
American in the spirit which engendered them; 
a spirit in the sponsors of doubt and distrust 
toward fellow citizens, a spirit which prompted 
public condemnation without a hearing of a 
large portion of the foreign-born element of the 
population, a spirit which arrogated to native- 

291 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

born Americans all that there is of patriotism 
and loyalty. 

Laws are interpreted in accordance with the 
apparent intent of the legislatures which enacted 
them, and in many cases it is almost impossible 
to grasp the full significance of a law unless 
the conditions surrounding its enactment are 
thoroughly understood. The statutes them- 
selves, however, often give a clew to the motives 
which actuated their makers. In this connection 
it may be interesting to compare the recent 
statutes of Nebraska and New Hampshire. 

CONTRAST OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NEBRASKA 

New Hampshire has passed very comprehensive 
educational legislation, while Nebraska has 
enacted very drastic measures; the legislation 
in both states was prompted in large measure 
by the activities and recommendations of the 
state councils of defense. 

The following regulations regarding the use 
of the English language were set up in New 
Hampshire under an act "in amendment of the 
laws relating to the public schools, and establish- 
ing a state Board of Education," approved 
March 28, 1919: 1 

1. In the instruction of children in all schools, including 
private schools, in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, 
grammar, geography, physiology, history, civil government, 
music, and drawing, the English language shall be used 
exclusively, both for the purpose of instruction therein and 
for purposes of general administration. 

x Act of March 2S, 1919, Sec. 13. 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

2. The exclusive use of English for purposes of instruction 
and administration is not intended to prohibit the conduct 
of devotional exercise in private schools in a language other 
than English. 

3. A foreign language may be taught in elementary schools 
provided the course of study (or its equivalent) outlined by 
the state Board of Education in the common English 
branches — that is, in reading, writing, history, civil govern- 
ment, music, and drawing — be not abridged, but be taught 
in compliance with the law of the state. 

In Nebraska, "an act relating to the teaching 
of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska" 
imposed the following restrictions : * 

No person, individually, or as a teacher, shall, in any 
private, denominational, parochial, or public school, teach 
any subject to any person in any other language than the 
English language [sec. 1]. 

Languages other than the English language may be taught 
as languages only after a pupil shall have attained and suc- 
cessfully passed the eighth grade as evidenced by a certifi- 
cate of graduation issued by the county superintendent of 
the county in which the child resides [sec. 2]. 

Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon convic- 
tion shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five 
(25) dollars, nor more than one hundred (100) dollars, 
or be confined in the county jail for any period not exceed- 
ing thirty days for each offense [sec. 3], 

Whereas an emergency exists, this act shall be in force 
from and after its passage and approval [sec. 4]. 

Something of the spirit and attitude of the 
legislators, and something of the atmosphere and 
conditions in the respective states, may be gath- 
ered in an examination of current legislation and 

1 Senate File No. 24 (1919), Chap. 249. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of the circumstances attending the enactment of 
the laws above mentioned. The foreign-born 
population of New Hampshire, according to the 
census of 1910, constituted 22.5 per cent of all 
the inhabitants of the state. New Hampshire 
has had to deal with a most delicate situation in 
the matter of its parochial schools. Most of the 
parochial schools are French, and no nationality 
is more tenacious of its traditions and language; 
moreover, religious considerations were insepa- 
rably bound up with the language question. The 
state Council of Defense was most careful to 
secure the co-operation of the authorities of the 
Catholic Church, and the letter of Bishop Guer- 
tin, published in Chapter IV, evidences the finest 
spirit of co-operation. That a policy of co-opera- 
tion need not mean compromise or militate 
against efficiency is apparent from the resolu- 
tions unanimously adopted by the state Board of 
Education of New Hampshire on October 15, 
1919, as follows: 

Whereas, Under existing laws the legal duty of the board 
will not be performed unless all children of school age in 
the state have an opportunity to obtain a sound common- 
school education and avail themselves of such opportunity. 

Resolved, That the approval of the board shall not be 
given to any private school which does not comply with the 
following requirements : 

An approved private school must (1) provide instruction 
and other educational opportunities as nearly equal as may 
be reasonably possible to those given in the public schools 
in the same city or town; (2) be maintained for thirty-six 
weeks in each year, at least five hours a day, and five days 
in the week, in a sanitary building; (3) be equipped with 
294 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

reasonably suitable furniture, books, maps, and other nec- 
essary appliances; (4) make the reports required of public 
schools of the same grade on forms provided by the board; 
(5) teach substantially the same subjects as those prescribed 
by the board for the public schools of similar grade; (6) use 
the English language as the basic language of instruction 
and administration as prescribed by Laws of 1919, Chap. 
106, sec. 13; (7) be carried on in such a manner as to effec- 
tively prepare the pupils for the exerci e of the rights and 
the discharge of the duties of American citizenship, and 
from the teaching of the prescribed studies produce educa- 
tional results substantially equivalent to those produced by 
the teaching of the same studies in the public schools. 

Resolved, Further, that it is the legal duty of the board to 
revoke its approval of any private school if, and whenever, 
it fails to comply with the foregoing requirements. 

The foreign-born population of Nebraska, ac- 
cording to the census of 1910, was 14.8 per cent 
of all its inhabitants. The population of the 
state is largely German, and German Lutheran 
and Catholic parochial schools flourished. The 
following excerpt from an article on the important 
changes in Nebraska's school laws, by G. W. 
Luckey, of Lincoln, Nebraska, in the Educational 
Review of September, 1919, depicts conditions 
attending the enactment of the recent legislation 
and indicates the present trend of saner and 
calmer judgment: 

The state legislature was selected as a war legislature, 
and the good-intentioned but meaningless or undefinable 
term Americanization played an important, if not deter- 
mining, part in the election and subsequent legislation. 
The mistaken judgment in selecting the membership of the 
state Council of Defense, and the disappointing judgment 
of that body in arraigning and publicly condemning as dis- 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

loyal, without a hearing, many wholly upright, public- 
spirited citizens, added materially to the confusion. The 
council's action in condemning the schools of the state, 
including the state university, as unpatriotic and seditious, 
caught the regents off guard or found them willing partici- 
pants, and cost the position and professional career of 
several innocent professors of undoubted integrity and the 
highest patriotism. By members of the same body Nebraska 
had been accused of being a hotbed of sedition, though 
careful students of social conditions have felt that no state 
(the large foreign element — 47 per cent of first and second 
generation — included) has shown more genuine patriotism 
and dynamic loyalty. All these disturbances were reflected 
in one way or another in the state election and the legisla- 
tion that followed. Hence it is but natural to expect the 
enactment of some provisions that will not bear the tests 
of the courts nor the supreme authority of democracy — the 
expressed will of the people. 

An indication of the extremes to which Ne- 
braska went on the question of the exclusive use 
of the English language may be gathered from a 
reading of the following act, which was passed at 
the same session of the legislature as the regula- 
tions reproduced above: 1 

Hereafter all public meetings held within the state of 
Nebraska, meetings held in compliance with the provisions 
of the Nebraska statutes, political meetings or conventions, 
whether delegate or otherwise, and all meetings or conven- 
tions the purpose and object of which are the consideration 
and discussion of political or nonpolitical subjects or ques- 
tions of general interest, or relating to the well-being of any 
class or organization in the state of Nebraska, or for the 
indorsement or rejection of any candidate, law, or measure 
to be voted upon at any election within said state, shall be 
conducted in the English language exclusively; providing 

1 Senate File No. 237, Acts of 1919, Chap. 234. 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

the provisions of this act shall not apply to meetings or 
conventions held for the purpose of religious teachings, 
instruction, or worship, or lodge organizations [sec. 1]. 

Any person violating the provisions of this act shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof 
shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars nor more 
than one hundred dollars [sec. 2]. 

This law would grant to a secret lodge or 
society rights or privileges which it denies to 
legitimate assemblies of a more democratic char- 
acter. It would seem to indicate a spirit of class 
distinction, class suspicion, class antagonism, a 
spirit which does violence to the bedrock prin- 
ciples of Americanism. 

Indiana leaves open the question of the con- 
stitutionality of sections of a new law, which 
forbids the teaching of German in any schools of 
elementary grade, and which requires the ex- 
clusive use of English in the first eight grades in 
all schools, public, private, and parochial. Sec- 
tion 5 of this act reads: * 

In case any section or sections of this act shall be held 
to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Indiana, 
such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining 
sections. 

EIGHTS OF PEIVATE EDUCATION 

Acts designed to establish the English language 
exclusively as the medium of instruction failed 
of passage in certain states, including the New 
England states of Vermont and Connecticut. In 
the state of Washington one of the most promi- 

iActs of 1919, Chap. 18. 
20 297 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

nent educators, who advocated prohibiting the 
use of any foreign language in public or private 
schools, is reported to have advanced as an argu- 
ment in support of his position the fact that the 
Japanese language was being taught after school 
hours in certain private schools. The bill pro- 
posing this restriction failed of passage, and prop- 
erly so, if its main purpose was not so much to 
insure the teaching of English in regular school 
hours as to prevent children of foreign-born resi- 
dents from learning the language of their fathers 
during hours when the day schools had no claim 
upon them. The doctrine that private schools 
have no rights under our laws is a denial of the 
very notion of our democracy. But the doctrine 
that the state has no rights regarding private 
schools is equally subversive of the principles of 
democracy. 

In Massachusetts there has long been a pro- 
vision in the Revised Laws relating to public in- 
struction, which stipulates: * 

For the purposes of this section, school committees shall 
approve a private school only when all the instruction in 
all the studies required by law is in the English language, 
and when they are satisfied that such instruction equals in 
thoroughness and efficiency and in the progress made therein 
the instruction in the public schools in the same city or 
town, but they shall not refuse to approve a private school 
on account of the religious teaching therein. 

Among other measures introduced in the last 
legislature by the Recess Commission on Educa- 
tion was a bill for reorganizing the state Board 

1 Revised Laws, Chap. 44, Sec. 1. 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

of Education and defining the duties of the state 
board and of the state Commissioner of Educa- 
tion. Included among the duties to be assigned 
to the Commissioner of Education was the 
following: 

It shall be his duty to see that the requirements of Sec. % 
Chap. 44, of the Revised Laws as amended with reference 
to the approval of private schools by school committees, 
are enforced. 

/The bill was referred to the Committee on Edu- 
cation, and at the public hearings of the com- 
mittee the adoption of this section was opposed 
by numerous persons interested in the welfare of 
parochial schools, on the ground that such an 
arrangement would result in too great a cen- 
tralization of authority in the hands of the com- 
missioner, and would work a hardship on paro- 
chial schools. The Committee on Education re- 
ported the following amendment to this section: 

It shall be his duty to secure from local school commit- 
tees, and it shall be their duty to make to him, such report 
or reports as will give adequate information relative to the 
fulfillment of the requirements of Sec. 2, Chap. 44, of the 
Revised Laws as amended with reference to the approval 
of private schools by the local school committees. 

So strong was the opposition of certain officials 
connected with parochial schools and their sup- 
porters that the entire bill for reorganization of 
the state Board of Education failed of passage. 
The result, however, of opposition based on fear 
of centralization of authority was that a different 
form of reorganization of the state Board of 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Education was ordered by the legislature, making 
for far greater centralization than the original 
plan. It provided that the Commissioner of Edu- 
cation should be appointed directly by the gov- 
ernor rather than elected by the Board of Edu- 
cation, thus making his selection a political 
matter and bringing back the custom against 
which Horace Mann worked so effectively. The 
new law makes the Board of Education an ad- 
visory board, and gives far more authority to the 
commissioner than has ever been given to this 
official in the history of the commonwealth. 
Massachusetts is essentially a town-meeting 
state and adheres most strongly of all the states 
to the doctrine of local autonomy. The tendency 
of legislatures throughout the nation is to give 
increased recognition and emphasis to the rights 
and duties of the states in the matter of educa- 
tion. There is, of course, danger that this tend- 
ency may be carried to extremes. State control 
of education may easily degenerate into a bu- 
reaucratic domination which spells inefficiency, 
waste, and stagnation. Local autonomy in edu- 
cation, on the other hand, often works an injus- 
tice to poorer communities and prevents any- 
thing approaching equalization of educational 
opportunity. The solution of the problem lies 
in neither extreme; home rule to the detriment 
of part of the communities is equally as intoler- 
able as state domination which stifles local 
initiative. 

Massachusetts might well have taken a leaf 
from the experience of New Hampshire. Had 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

a policy of co-operation been adopted before the 
report of the Recess Commission on Education, 
much needless acrimony on the part of supporters 
of parochial schools might have been avoided. 

The attitude of Bishop McDevitt of Harris- 
burg is referred to in Chapter IV, and the follow- 
ing excerpt from the address of Rev. John 
O'Grady, representative of the National Catho- 
lic War Council at the Americanization Confer- 
ence of the TJ. S. Bureau of Education in Wash- 
ington in May, 1919, indicates the attitude on 
immigrant education taken by the bishops com- 
prising the National Catholic War Council: 

All schools should be required to conduct their classes in 
English. They should, however, not be prevented from 
teaching a foreign language if they so desire. . . . 

The citizenship program being published under the aus- 
pices of the Reconstruction Committee of the National 
Catholic War Council, recognizes that a knowledge of the 
English language is the first step on the way to citizenship. 
We also recognize that without concrete instruction in civics 
the process of adjustment partially fails. . . . 

In order to teach the immigrants religion, human rights, 
and the fundamentals of citizenship, the church has been 
compelled to adjust itself to their languages and their racial 
ideas. Very few Americans appreciate the difficulty under 
which the church has labored in this regard. If it had 
antagonized the immigrants in matters of language and of 
race, as many would-be Americanizers have done, it would 
have been compelled to sacrifice the many other good things 
which it has done for them. We are only too glad to have 
the government save us the embarrassment of having to 
solve the language question. 

Summarizing the trend of legislation affecting 
children of compulsory-school-attendance age, 

301 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

it seems obvious that henceforth all states will 
insist upon a gradually lengthening term of com- 
pulsory attendance and upon adequate instruc- 
tion in the English language and in the history, 
government, and institutions of the United 
States. In general, it may be said that all chil- 
dren, native and foreign-born, will be assured 
something approaching adequate preparation 
for citizenship. 

The upper limit of the compulsory-school- 
attendance period varies in the different states, 
and ranges anywhere from the age of twelve 
to the age of eighteen. There is evidenced, 
however, a steadily developing force of public 
opinion favorable to extending the upper limit 
at least to the age of sixteen. The "legal school 
age period" likewise varies in the different 
states. In general, it begins at the ages between 
five and eight, and ends at the ages between 
seventeen and twenty-one, and defines the ages 
*of eligibility to all the public-school facilities. 

COMPULSION FOR THE ILLITERATE MINOR 

Very little legislation providing for training in 
citizenship which would affect children falling 
in age between the upper limits of compulsory 
attendance and the maximum legal school age 
is even now in effect in any of the states. Prior 
to 1915 Massachusetts had long been the sole 
exception to the general rule. For over thirty 
years this state has required the attendance at 
evening schools of all minors who are illiter- 
ate in English. The standard of literacy pre- 

302 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

scribed for exemption from evening-school 
attendance has been, since 1913, such ability 
to read and write English as is required for pro- 
motion through the fourth grade. In 1919 the 
standard was raised so as to require completion 
of the sixth grade. Under the present law no 
illiterate minor between the ages of sixteen and 
twenty-one may be retained in employment 
who does not submit to his employer a weekly 
report showing that he has been regular in 
attendance at evening school. The legislature 
of 1916 exempted married women from the 
requirements of this law. 1 

While Massachusetts has done more than any 
other state to eliminate illiteracy among inhabit- 
ants under twenty-one years of age, there is still 
considerable room for improvement both in the 
law itself and in its enforcement. The employ- 
ment laws 2 are not as broad in their application 
as the compulsory-school-attendance laws, in 
that the former include only factories, work- 
shops, manufacturing, mechanical, or mercantile 
establishments, and that in court cases judges 
have been loath to exercise jurisdiction or enforce 
penalties for offenses beyond the purview of the 
sections of the law which regulate employment. 

There is nothing in the school-attendance laws 
of the state which fixes a minimum term for 
evening schools or which provides for adequate 
standards of evening-school instruction. No 
penalty is imposed upon communities which 
neglect to maintain evening schools, thereby 

i~Appendix, p. 387. 2 Ibid., p. 389. 

303 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

transgressing a specific state law. In the year 
1914-15, according to returns made to the 
United States Bureau of Education, 23 com- 
munities in Massachusetts having over 5,000 
inhabitants, including over 1,000 foreign-born 
white persons, failed to establish evening schools, 
and of these communities 3 had over 10,000 
inhabitants, while 1 had a population of which 
47 per cent were foreign-born white persons. 
These population figures are based on the census 

Map 4. — Places Having over 1,000 Foreign Born in 1910 

Reporting Public Classes in 1918-19 in Massachusetts 

O Reporting Classes 68 

• Reporting "No Classes" 37 




of 1910. The returns submitted to the Massa- 
chusetts Board of Education for the year 1918- 
19 showed that 36 communities with popula- 
tions of over 5,000, including 1,000 foreign- 
born white persons, failed to establish eve- 
ning schools, and of these 3 had over 10,000 
inhabitants. Of 125 cities and towns having a 
foreign-born population of over 1,000, there were 
48 which did not maintain evening schools. 
These population figures are based on the Mas- 

304 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

sachusetts census of 1915. Map 4 shows the 
cities and towns having over 1,000 foreign-born 
residents in 1910 which did or did not maintain 
evening schools in 1918-19. A corresponding 
map (Map 5) of Pennsylvania contrasts the small 
provision in an immigrant state with no adequate 
law. Population as of 1910 is used for the maps 
in order to make the 2 states comparable. 



Map 5. — Places Having over 1,000 Foreign Born in 1910 
Reporting Public Classes in 1918-19 in Pennsylvania 



O Reporting Classes 28 • Reporting "No Classes" 64 




Another serious defect in the Massachusetts 
law is that it contains no provision for state aid, 
although many of the communities find it diffi- 
cult, if not impossible, to support evening schools. 
It is rather interesting in this connection to 
note that the legislature of 1919 obligated the 
state to reimburse communities for one-half 
the cost of maintenance of evening schools for 
non-English-speaking persons, yet it confines 
such expenditure to reimbursement for main- 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

taining classes for persons over twenty-one years 
of age, whose attendance at school is wholly 
voluntary, and for whom communities are not 
compelled to provide schools, and it utterly 
ignores classes for persons between sixteen and 
twenty-one years of age, whose attendance is 
compulsory and for whom communities must 
provide schools under the provisions of the law 
above mentioned. 

In 1918 New York passed measures requiring 
the attendance at day or evening school, or at 
some school maintained by an employer, of all 
minors between sixteen and twenty-one years of 
age who do not possess such ability to speak, 
read, and write the English language as is re- 
quired for the completion of the fifth-grade work. 
But New York is only now beginning to arrange 
for the enforcement of the compulsory-attend- 
ance features of this law. 

At the special session of the legislature in 1918 
Wisconsin amended its laws relating to public 
schools so as to provide that every illiterate minor 
over seventeen years of age must, in order to 
secure or retain employment, be a regular attend- 
ant at public evening school when the city, 
town, or village in which the illiterate minor re- 
sides maintains a public evening school. 

Laws providing for the compulsory attendance 
of illiterate minors between sixteen and twenty- 
one years of age, practically similar to those of 
New York and Massachusetts, were enacted in 
1919 in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and South 
Dakota. California, which has a continuation- 

306 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

school requirement for persons between fourteen 
and eighteen years of age, provides that all per- 
sons over eighteen and under twenty-one years 
of age who cannot speak, read, or write the 
English language to a degree of proficiency equal 
to that required for the completion of the sixth- 
grade work of the elementary schools of the state, 
and who are not attending a public or private 
full-time day school, must attend for at least 
four sixty-minute hours per week, a special day 
or evening class maintained by a high-school dis- 
trict for persons who cannot speak, read, or write 
the English language. Utah included minors in 
its legislation, which requires that every alien 
person between the ages of sixteen and forty-five 
years residing in the state — except those who 
may be physically or mentally disqualified — who 
does not possess such ability to speak, read, and 
write the English language as is required for the 
completion of the fifth-grade work of the public 
schools of the state, shall attend a public evening- 
school class for at least four hours a week during 
the entire time in which an evening-school class 
of the proper grade shall be in session in that 
district within two and one-half miles of his place 
of residence, or until the necessary ability has 
been acquired. 

With all the agitation of the past few years in 
favor of providing for the education of the foreign 
born, it would hardly seem possible that so few 
states should have enacted compulsory-school- 
attendance laws for illiterates between sixteen 
and twenty-one years of age. The situation, 

307 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

however, is not so distressing as it would appear. 
In the first place, immigration has practically 
ceased since 1914. An illiterate immigrant who 
was sixteen years old in 1914 is now twenty-one, 
and consequently would, because of the mere 
lapse of years, fail to come within the scope of 
the law. Many illiterates succeed in passing the 
literacy test and thus escape the requirements of 
the law. In the evening schools of Boston in 
the year 1914-15, over five hundred illiterate 
minors between the ages of sixteen and twenty- 
one were enrolled. In the year 1918-19, three 
hundred and sixty-seven were enrolled, and for 
the year 1919-20, it has been estimated that not 
more than two hundred will be enrolled, though 
Boston has probably the most elaborate and 
effective method of insuring the registration of 
illiterate minors in evening schools. 

The chief value of compulsory-attendance laws 
for illiterate minors is, first, that they lead to a 
realization that such laws should have been 
enacted by the principal immigrant states at 
least a decade ago, and second, that they assure 
an adequate state of preparedness with respect 
to the illiterate minors of the new immigration 
which is to come. If the number of immigrant 
arrivals under twenty-one years of age should 
even approximate the normal pre-war numbers, 
it would seem desirable and almost necessary, 
both for the state and for the immigrant, that a 
command of the English language and a knowl- 
edge of American institutions, ways, and cus- 
toms on the part of the immigrant should not 



TREND OP LEGISLATION 

be left to chance, but be secured and safeguarded 
by compulsory -school-attendance laws. 

A number of states have raised their standards 
of literacy from the fourth-grade to fifth-grade 
final requirements, and two states, California 
and Massachusetts, sixth-grade level. Attend- 
ance in some states is not limited to evening- 
school classes alone. The New York state law 
on this point reads : 1 

Any employer may meet the requirements of this act by 
conducting a class or classes for teaching English or civics 
to foreign born, in shop, store, plant, or factory, under 
the supervision of the local school authorities, and any 
minor subject to the provisions of this act may satisfy the 
requirements by attendance upon such classes. 

Rhode Island accepts, as constituting compli- 
ance with its law, attendance at day continuation 
or evening schools in shops and factories, pro- 
vided such schools are under the control and 
supervision of the school committee. It also ac- 
cepts, in lieu of attendance at public schools, 
attendance at private schools or private instruc- 
tion in the English language, provided the private 
instruction is approved by the school committee 
as substantially equivalent in content, method, 
and hours of instruction, to the instruction offered 
in the public schools. 

PROVISION BEYOND TWENTY-ONE 

There is scarcely any legislation applying to 
illiterate persons over twenty-one years of age. 
Utah is the only state which has enacted a com- 

"^Laws of 1918, Chap. 445, Sec. 637, No. 5. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

pulsory -attendance law for such persons; under 
its provisions persons between sixteen and forty- 
five years of age are compelled to attend a public 
day school or a part-time or evening school. A 
similar bill, which would have required the attend- 
ance at evening school of "every person above 
the age of fourteen who does not possess such 
ability to speak, read, and write the English 
language as is required for the completion of the 
fifth grade of the public schools of the state," 
was introduced in the legislature in Wyoming; 
it passed both houses, but was vetoed by the 
governor on the ground that it was unconstitu- 
tional in providing for the compulsory school 
attendance of persons over twenty-one years of 
age. Such a bill was introduced in Massachu- 
setts, but the compulsory -attendance feature was 
eliminated by the Committee on Education. 

In other states constitutional provisions seem 
to operate against the establishment of evening 
schools for adults — e.g., in all states in which the 
school fund is distributed on the basis of the 
number of children of legal school age in the 
respective communities, it is clear that such eve- 
ning schools can be established and maintained 
only through the support by the local boards or 
committees. The following states must depend 
entirely on local support of evening schools for 
adults because of their constitutional provisions: 
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Lou- 
isiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Mon- 
tana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, 
Wyoming. 

310 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

In addition to constitutional limitations, stat- 
ute laws in certain states prohibit the attendance 
at evening schools of persons over twenty-one 
years of age. On the other hand, certain state 
laws, while not imposing compulsory attendance, 
nevertheless make the establishment of evening 
schools either mandatory under prescribed con- 
ditions or permissive at the discretion of local 
boards of education. 

STATE LAWS FOR NIGHT SCHOOLS 

Connecticut has long had a mandatory pro- 
vision requiring every town with a population of 
10,000 or over to establish and maintain evening 
schools. The legislature of 1919 provided that 
working illiterate minors between fourteen and 
sixteen years of age be required to attend such 
evening schools for not less than eight hours each 
week, for a period of not less than sixteen weeks. 
Laws making the establishment and maintenance 
of evening schools mandatory under prescribed 
conditions are found in the following states, which 
are not among the states providing for the com- 
pulsory attendance of illiterate minors between 
sixteen and twenty-one years of age: Connecti- 
cut, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, 
North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and 
Washington. 

The conditions under which the boards of edu- 
cation are required to establish evening schools 
vary in the different states. In Kansas and in 
Pennsylvania the laws require application from 
the parents or guardians of pupils over fourteen 

311 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

years of age, and so would seem to indicate that 
such schools are intended for minors. In North 
Dakota and Iowa an application from ten or 
more adult persons over sixteen years of age is 
the necessary condition for the establishment of 
evening schools. In Nevada a petition of fifteen 
applicants addressed to the state superintendent 
is the prescribed condition, and schools opened 
under this authorization are free to native and 
foreign-born youths and adults. 

The Oklahoma law of 1919 puts emphasis upon 
training in citizenship as follows: ' 

Whereas, The Federal government is working, through the 
Bureau of Naturalization, in co-operation with the public 
schools of the entire country to increase their efficiency, 
and has authorized the free distribution of textbooks fur 
instruction in citizenship responsibilities, it is hereby made 
incumbent upon the public-school authorities within the 
state, from and after the passage of this resolution, to 
organize a class in English and in citizenship instruction 
whenever they are presented with a petition signed by ten 
(10) residents of foreign birth over the age of sixteen, re- 
questing the organization of such a class for their instruc- 
tion in English and in citizenship. 

In 1919 Pennsylvania enacted a law for the 
instruction of foreign-born residents of counties 
which introduces a rather novel procedure. The 
law provides that the judges of the court of com- 
mon pleas may, upon the nomination of the 
superintendent of schools, appoint instructors for 
the teaching of citizenship to foreign-born resi- 
dents of the county, such instructors to be ap- 

1 Chap. 315. 

312 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

pointed for a term of not less than one or more 
than three years at a compensation to be fixed 
by the court, provided that the number of instruc- 
tors for each county and their compensation shall 
not exceed the number and compensation of as- 
sistant superintendents of schools of said county. 

The small number of the states which have 
enacted compulsory-attendance laws affecting 
illiterate minors has already been noted. In 
view of the small additional number of states in 
which local boards are required to establish eve- 
ning schools, the conclusion is inevitable that 
most of the states are not yet aroused to the im- 
portance of the problem of immigrant education 
and to the necessity of attempting its solution. 
It is hardly fair to blame the immigrant for his 
lack of knowledge of the language, customs, tra- 
ditions, and ideals of America when so little legis- 
lative provision exists for affording him an op- 
portunity to overcome his handicaps. Ignorance 
of our language on the part of immigrants has 
frequently been held up as the cause of industrial 
unrest and civic disorder in states where no 
facilities are provided by law to enable the immi- 
grant to acquire the language or to become 
familiar with our laws and institutions. 

Permissive legislation regarding evening 
schools is found upon the statute books of many 
states, but if our experience has proved anything, 
it is that permissive legislation is practically a 
failure in solving the problem of the education 
of the immigrant. Legislation of this sort has 
been enacted by the following states: Arkansas, 

21 313 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, 
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, 
New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, 
Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

In Wisconsin, if the local board neglects or 
refuses to establish night schools, the law requires 
for the establishment of such schools a petition 
of 10 per cent of the voters of a school district, 
followed at the next ensuing election by a major- 
ity vote of the district. In Maine a statute 
governing state aid to towns maintaining manual - 
training classes in evening schools has been 
amended so as to provide evening schools for 
the purpose of Americanization, and also for 
the purpose of reducing illiteracy. 

South Carolina in 1917 amended its law, which 
then read, 1 

It shall not be lawful for any person who is less than six 
or more than twenty-one years of age to attend any of the 
free public schools of this state, 

by the reservation, 

provided, however, that the maximum limit of twenty-one 
years shall not apply to night schools and persons over 
that age may attend such night schools. 

In Wisconsin the privilege of free tuition does 
not extend to persons over twenty years of age 
except with the consent of the local school board ; 
the tuition charge, if there is any, may be nomi- 
nal, however. 

Certain states in which the school age does 
not extend beyond twenty-one formerly gave 

x Sec. 1778, Vol. 1, Code of Laws of S. C. of 1912. 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

local boards the right to admit adults on paj 7 - 
ment of tuition, but have since provided that 
persons over twenty-one may be admitted with- 
out tuition charge. Among these states are Colo- 
rado, Missouri, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

THE SOUTH AWAKENED TO ILLITERACY 

So far as training for citizenship is concerned, 
the native illiterate presents practically the 
same problem as the immigrant. Both need 
essentially the same type of instruction for 
adjustment to civil life; in both cases, the great- 
est lack is opportunity of training for adults. 
The immigrants are found largely in the so-called 
"immigration belt" north of the Ohio and east 
of the Mississippi; the native illiterates predomi- 
nate in the Southern states. In recent years the 
Southern states have shown considerable activity 
in providing facilities for the education of illiter- 
ates. Kentucky in 1914 was the first state to 
authorize an illiteracy commission; Alabama 
followed in 1915, Mississippi in 1916, Arkansas 
in 1917, and Georgia in 1919. In the beginning 
illiteracy commissions were appointed to investi- 
gate the problem and attempt its solution with- 
out the aid of state appropriations. In 1916 
Kentucky appropriated $5,000 annually for two 
years for the benefit of the illiteracy commission 
and to provide for a census of adult illiterates. 
In 1917 North Carolina and in 1918 Kentucky 
authorized appropriations of $25,000 for the 
removal of illiteracy. In 1919 North Carolina 

315 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

took the next forward step. In its act author- 
izing the establishment of evening schools for 
adult illiterates it provides that such schools when 
established shall become a part of the public- 
school system of the state and shall be supported 
as other schools of the state are supported; it 
likewise authorizes the state Board of Education 
to expend annually, under the direction of the 
state superintendent of schools, a sum not to 
exceed $5,000, for the organization and direction 
of the work of teaching illiterates. At a special 
session in 1919 Alabama created a state Board 
of Education and abolished its illiteracy com- 
mission. The state board was to assume the 
powers and duties of the illiteracy commission, 
including the expenditure of an appropriation 
of $12,500 for the removal of illiteracy. 

states' share in the cost 

The method of attack in the Southern states in 
attempting to eliminate illiteracy typifies in a 
certain sense the logical procedure with respect 
to immigrant education. First must come suit- 
able legislation and then adequate state funds, 
the ideal condition being the fixing of an equal 
share of the responsibility and of the expense 
upon state and community. Many of the states 
fail to assume their just share of the cost of the 
education of the immigrant. Massachusetts, for 
example, has compelled illiterate minors (16-21) 
to attend evening schools and made the establish- 
ment and maintenance of evening schools manda- 

316 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

tory, and yet has thrust upon the local communi- 
ties the entire burden of supporting such schools. 1 
Its Americanization Act of 1919, however, pro- 
vides that henceforth the commonwealth shall 
share equally with the communities the cost of 
maintaining classes for adult immigrants. 

Certain states also fail even now to appreciate 
their responsibility. Montana in 1919 enacted a 
measure for the establishment of Americanization 
schools in several school districts, but provided that 
none of the funds appropriated should be expended 
upon persons over twenty-one years of age. 

A study of the trend of recent legislation 
makes it apparent that the greatest advance has 
been on the side of provision for financial support. 
California, which is the only state which takes 
cognizance of evening schools in its constitution, 
has always maintained such schools as a part 
of its general school system. State support is 
allotted on attendance basis, attendance of a 
pupil at one session at evening school being con- 
sidered equivalent to attendance at one half- 
session at day school. Similar provisions are 
found in the laws of South Carolina and Wash- 
ington. Maine provides for reimbursement to 
the extent of two- thirds of the cost of instruction. 
Vermont considers evening classes as part of 
the public-school system. Similar provisions are 
made in Tennessee and Kansas. South Dakota 
assumes not more than half the cost of the salaries 
of teachers and the expense of maintenance. 

In 1917 Minnesota provided for the payment 

1 Appendix, p. 387. 

317 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of half the salaries of all teachers in the evening 
schools, and in 1919 in the special session of its 
legislature appropriated $12,500 for each of the 
fiscal years ending July 31, 1920, and July 31, 
1921, for public evening schools for adults, to be 
expended under the direction of the state Board 
of Education. At the same session of the legis- 
lature the boards of education or other school 
boards in all school districts having over 50,000 
inhabitants were authorized to levy "in addition 
to all other sums for school purposes ... an 
amount equal to twenty-five hundredths of one 
mill on each dollar of the taxable property in the 
district, for educational work among the immi- 
grants and candidates for naturalization, and for 
removal of illiteracy." 

North Dakota likewise pays half the salaries 
of all teachers approved by the local superin- 
tendents and, in addition, appropriated $7,000 
in 1917 for the purpose of carrying out the pro- 
visions of its education law; in 1919 it provided 
that the cost of evening schools should be borne 
equally by the local school boards and by the 
county boards of education. In 1917 Nevada 
appropriated $10,000 to pay the salaries of 
teachers, on the basis of one teacher for every 
fifteen persons enrolled, such salary to be not 
more than one dollar per hour of actual teach- 
ing and not more than forty dollars per month. 

In 1917 New Mexico enacted a statute au- 
thorizing the school directors in school districts 
where there may be ten or more illiterate persons 
to employ their regular teachers for evening 

318 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

courses of instruction for at least one hour each 
night and to pay such teachers five dollars ad- 
ditional for the first ten pupils and an additional 
five dollars for any number over and above the 
first ten students, such compensation to be paid 
from the same fund from which the regular 
salaries of teachers are paid. 

Arizona in 1918 appropriated $25,000 for the 
year ending June 30, 1919, to be apportioned 
by the state superintendent according to the 
daily average school attendance in various 
counties. In 1919 Utah by its Americanization 
Act authorized the appointment of a director of 
Americanization, and appropriated $20,000 for 
the salaries of teachers and the expenses of 
supervision. 

Connecticut contributes to each town support- 
ing an evening school for at least seventy-five 
nights four dollars per pupil in the average 
attendance for this period provided a report is 
submitted to the board. In 1919 tin's state ap- 
propriated $50,000 for the two fiscal years ending 
June 30, 1920, and June 30, 1921, and provided 
for the establishment of a department of Ameri- 
canization in the Board of Education and the 
appointment of a director of this department at 
a salary of $3,000, and provided also that the 
school committee of any town designated by 
the state board might appoint, subject to the 
approval of the state board, a town director of 
Americanization whose compensation should be 
fixed and paid by the state Board of Education. 

In 1918 New York, in connection with its pro- 
319 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

visions for immigrant education, appropriated 
$20,000 to be expended by the commissioner of 
education in organizing, maintaining, and operat- 
ing training institutes for the purpose of training 
regular public-school teachers and others in the 
best methods of instructing illiterates over sixteen 
years of age. In 1919 this state amended its 
law relating to the instruction of illiterates and 
appropriated $100,000 to be expended by the 
commissioner of education in dividing the state 
into zones and in appointing directors thereof, 
with teachers and such other emplo3 r ees as might 
be necessary to promote and extend educational 
facilities for the education of illiterates and of 
non-English-speaking persons. 

Ohio in 1919 established an Americanization 
Committee for the purpose of carrying on the 
Americanization and patriotic education work 
begun by the Council of National Defense and of 
co-operating with the agencies of the Federal 
government in the study and application of 
Americanization and patriotic education work 
in the state. The act was so amended that the 
Americanization Committee should consist of 
the Joint Committee on German Propaganda of 
the Senate and House of Representatives, to- 
gether with the superintendent of public instruc- 
tion. The sum of $25,000 was appropriated 
for carrying out the purposes of the act, but the 
duties of the commissioner are so broad in their 
scope that it is doubtful how much of the appro- 
priation can be devoted directly to the schooling 
of immigrants. 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

In Pennsylvania an act was passed in 1919 
continuing the Commission of Public Safety and 
Defense as the Commission of Public Welfare. 
Among its other duties the commission is au- 
thorized to aid activities for the betterment of 
social or educational conditions or the securing 
and preserving to the citizens of the common- 
wealth the rights and liberties guaranteed under 
the constitutions of the commonwealth and of 
the United States. For the purpose of carrying 
out the provisions of this act the sum of $500,000, 
together with any unexpended balance in the 
treasury, was appropriated. If the entire appro- 
priation were devoted to providing educational 
facilities for foreign-born persons in Pennsylvania, 
it would be well spent; but under the broad 
powers accorded the commission it is impossible 
to predict how much assistance will be rendered 
in the education of the immigrant. 

In 1919 Delaware appropriated $15,000 for 
each of the two years beginning January 1, 1919, 
and January 1, 1920, to pay for the cost of 
inaugurating and maintaining classes under the 
provisions of the Americanization Act, which 
authorizes school districts in which there are 
ten or more persons sixteen years of age or over 
who do not speak the English language and 
desire to attend classes to establish evening 
classes. The Massachusetts Acts of 1919 pro- 
vide for reimbursement of cities and towns for 
half the cost of classes for adult immigrants. 
New Hampshire in its act establishing a state 
board of education provided that an appropria- 

321 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

tion of $162,100 for the year ending August 31, 
1920, and $150,700 for the year ending August 
31, 1921, in addition to other funds, should be 
made for special educational purposes, including 
the abolition of illiteracy and the Americanization 
of immigrants. 

New Jersey contributes $80 for each teacher 
holding a proper certificate and teaching at least 
sixty -four evenings. It also counts an evening's 
attendance as a half-day's attendance in deter- 
mining its per capita allowance based upon 
attendance. At the option of the local board 
the state will duplicate the local appropriation for 
evening classes for foreign-born residents to an 
amount not to exceed $5,000 annually. The per 
capita allowance varies from year to year, as it is 
apportioned from a lump appropriation. 

Rhode Island provides that public evening 
schools and day continuation schools established 
under the provisions of its Americanization Act 
of 1919 shall receive state support from the annual 
appropriations for evening schools and industrial 
education. It authorized the appropriation of 
$3,000 annually for the purpose of visitation, in- 
spection, and supervision by the state board, 
and for the purpose of securing such appropria- 
tions as may be provided by the Federal govern- 
ment for like purposes, and made a further appro- 
priation of $2,000 for the fiscal year ending 
December 31, 1919, for the purpose of carrying 
the act into effect. 

In North Carolina the county boards upon 
the direction of the state superintendent of public 

322 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

instruction are directed to provide annually in 
the county school budgets the sum necessary to 
provide for the teaching of adult illiterates in 
accordance with rules and regulations established 
by the state board, and a like sum is to be appro- 
priated from the state public-school fund. As 
noted above, the state board is authorized to 
expend $5,000 for the organization and direction 
of the work of the state illiteracy commission. 

PROSPECTS IN AMERICA 

While much remains to be done by most of the 
states in promoting Americanization and in re- 
moving illiteracy, a general survey of the recent 
legislation affecting immigrant education cannot 
but produce a hopeful impression. At least a 
fair beginning has been made in most states; 
many states have taken long strides forward, 
and the outlook for the future is very promising. 
States of all sections of the country are beginning 
to recognize and to assert their rights in respect 
to training in citizenship. Legislatures are com- 
ing into a realization of the duty and neces- 
sity of providing more adequately for the educa- 
tion of future citizens. It is not too optimistic 
to predict that within a decade suitable legisla- 
tion and adequate funds will be provided in all 
the states, and that states and communities 
will then co-operate in furnishing training for 
citizenship, each sharing .equally in the responsi- 
bility, each bearing an equal portion of the ex- 
pense, and each taking equal pride in the result — 
an intelligent, patriotic citizenry. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

It seems certain that the present tendency in 
state legislation will lead to much additional 
legislation in the direction of better training for 
citizenship. As we have observed, the movement 
began during the war for the purpose of effecting 
the solidarity of understanding necessary to win. 
At the close of the war we had assumed that the 
serenity of social conditions existing prior to the 
conflict would automatically return. Had this 
happened the Americanization movement might 
have languished. The war was no sooner over 
than appeared the new unrest, and so unusual 
in character as to produce greater uncertainty 
as to the stability of our citizenship than had 
existed during the war. We now find that the 
matter of citizenship is no longer a war emergency 
issue, but is more properly a pressing question 
of national survival. 

With some confidence, then, we may predict 
that legislation looking toward a better disposed 
and more intelligent citizenship will be increas- 
ingly forthcoming from state and national 
sources. This legislation can no longer be aimed 
at one group like that of the alien, but to all the 
members of our society where the need is known 
to exist. In a question of national survival the 
alien is but an incident. 

On the whole we look forward to additional 
legislation of general educational and civic char- 
acter. The problem of literacy on the part of 
all elements in our population, the extension of 
the period of education to higher age limits, bet- 
ter types of educational provision involving more 



TREND OF LEGISLATION 

varied courses of study, physical and health edu- 
cation, extension of the influence of the state in 
the standards and character of private education 
— these are specific projects of educational na- 
ture which state and national legislatures may be 
expected to undertake in the immediate future. 
We shall see, very likely, specific and extensive 
legislation upon the character of civic education 
which shall be required in all schools, public and 
private. We may also anticipate legislation 
directed to the better instruction of the non- 
English-speaking immigrant, legislation of be- 
nevolent character, without suspicion or coercion, 
furnishing the opportunity through self-service 
for the adult immigrant to get that which has 
been a closed book in the past. 

EEQUIRE SCHOOLS BEFORE ATTENDANCE 

In looking back over the long history of manda- 
tory school legislation, we find there have been 
two kinds: the one which was connected with 
providing schools, and the other which com- 
pelled attendance. Simply stated, what happens 
is this: The establishment of the school is first 
compulsory upon the community, but the indi- 
vidual is not under compulsion to attend. The 
opportunity is set up; the provision is made 
and the individual to be benefited may or may 
not take advantage of it. In Massachusetts 
communities were obliged to furnish free schools 
as early as 1638. Compulsory attendance was 
not a law until 1853. The same succession of 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

events is found in all the states. First came the 
schools and then the compulsion to attend. 

Opposed to this is the present tendency in 
legislation, both in states and in the national 
government, to set up the principle of compulsory 
attendance before the provision has been estab- 
lished. The former American procedure has been 
to experiment, determine, and decree — our pres- 
ent tendency is a reversal of this process. Why 
treat the alien differently from the native? Why 
assume that what was effective for the native 
will not be efficacious with the immigrant? Why 
reverse American procedure when attempting to 
Americanize? 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

It has been remarked that should all life in 
America suddenly become extinct and in after- 
centuries curious scholars come to search among 
the ruins for characteristics of American civiliza- 
tion, there would be little in the remains from 
our school system to indicate that we had been 
a self-governing people. Direct efforts to teach 
the duties and responsibilities of citizenship in a 
democratic government have been, until recently, 
quite inadequate. We have long had a study 
of civics, which has lately been given the name 
"citizenship," but this has been limited to a 
very small number of pupils in the public 
schools and has not in any sense furnished a 
means of instructing the adult citizenry of 
the nation in the practice of self-government. 
The Americanization movement has fortu- 
nately been compelled to take note of the fact 
that an immigrant who comes from a country 
without self-government finds difficulty in im- 
mediately adjusting himself to the life of 
a democracy. Most Americanization programs 

327 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

have, therefore, included training in citizenship 
as a corollary to the teaching of English, and 
have sought ways and means of instructing the 
immigrant in his public or civic duties. It is 
the purpose of this chapter to describe and 
appraise efforts which have already been made 
in this direction, and to indicate more fully what 
remains to be done. 

The term "citizenship" has been very broadly 
used : moralists have spoken of Christian citizen- 
ship and included thereunder all of the virtues 
known to the human race; others have extended 
it to cover practically all of the everyday duties 
of an individual in a modern community — the 
obligations of a workingman, a husband, a wife, 
a child, a neighbor, as well as the purely civic 
obligations involved in the relation of a man to 
the government under which he lives. In many 
instances, where the word "Americanization," 
with all of its multitude of connotations, is being 
dropped, the word "citizenship" is one of the 
terms substituted. It is, consequently, of con- 
siderable importance to seek at the outset to 
fix some boundaries to our study of the teaching 
of citizenship. We shall, therefore, consider only 
the formal training of the immigrant in a knowl- 
edge of those facts and in those practices per- 
taining not only to government, but also to 
those public and quasi-public institutions which 
serve the community as a whole. We shall not 
consider vocational training, religious or moral 
instruction, "safety first" lessons, or that type 
of drilling in certain formal nationalistic observ- 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

ances which is sometimes called instruction in 
patriotism, 

VITAL VS. LEGALISTIC CIVICS 

The teaching in civics in the United States was 
born and nourished in an age of dry legalism. 
The first texts in civics were dry commentaries on 
the Constitution. They put primary emphasis 
upon the machinery of government; state and 
local affairs were given little attention, and the 
functions of government were not treated at all. 
This is the education in civics which flourished 
until the past decade. 

A reaction against this arid type of instruction 
began more than ten years ago. A number of 
educators began to insist upon a type of educa- 
tion in civics which should concern itself more 
largely with the functions rather than the forms 
of government, and with the local community 
rather than the national government. This new 
civics was commonly called "community civics," 
and its outstanding exponent was A. W. Dunn, 
whose text, Community Civics, still stands as 
perhaps its best exemplification. Community 
civics has had a great vogue. In its most ex- 
treme form it embodies all of the following char- 
acteristics : 

1. The treatment begins with the more inti- 
mate social concerns of the citizen. In some 
texts the subject of the family is presented first, 
probably upon the assumption that the family 
is the simplest as well as the primary social unit. 

2. The dominant idea presented is that of com- 

22 329 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

munity action. The pupil is to form his idea of 
the meaning of "community" from his experi- 
ence of the local neighborhood, and after a long 
treatment of neighborhood housekeeping the 
author applies the same magic term "commu- 
nity" to the larger social units of city, state, 
nation, and world. 

3. Overwhelming attention is given to incon- 
sequential local affairs. The topic of the nation 
is treated in a few crowded pages at the end of 
the book, while many chapters are given to petty 
community affairs. For example, in a recent text 
for junior high schools, 1 chapter out of 21 
treats of national government, or 13 pages of 
a total of 204. Twenty -seven lines are given 
to the subject of mosquitoes, while discussion of 
the Presidency of the United States is accorded 
15. Another text of this type, containing in all 
238 pages, gives 10 pages to the question of the 
nation. The same text gives more space to deal- 
ing with the preservation of trees than with the 
pros and cons of municipal ownership, and more 
pages to the topic of charity than to that of 
self-government. 

4. A sense of obligation to the community is 
set up as the sum total of civic virtue. The 
preface of one of these books states that the 
author has two questions in mind: (1) "What 
is the community doing for the citizen?" and 
(2) "What does the citizen owe to the com- 
munity?" 

5. Few, if any, controversial subjects are in- 
troduced. All of the facts are set forth with a 

330 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

quiet finality which carries the intimation that 
government is once and for all time fixed — like 
the stratification in geological formations. One 
would never suspect, in reading these texts, that 
there are affairs in government upon which honest 
men may differ. 

6. In the main, community civics is intended 
as a contribution to the curriculum of the junior 
high school. In fact, its exponents insist that 
controversial material shall not be introduced 
into the junior high school; all debate is reserved 
for the civics of the senior high school. "Bio- 
logically," says one of the advocates of civics 
teaching of this sort, "the child in the grades is 
not able to deal with controversial material." 

Community civics in its ordinary form has a 
number of very serious limitations. The over- 
whelming attention given to purely community 
affairs tends to limit the vision of the pupil to 
the concerns of community housekeeping; the 
vital national and local concerns are thrust so 
far into the background that they lose their 
proper significance. Moreover, the future needs 
a strong, resolute race of self-governing citizens. 
Training in affairs of merely neighborhood con- 
cern cannot bring forth these qualities. The 
German schools excelled in a sort of community 
civic education which emphasized a few things 
concerning community welfare, but neglected 
national concerns. The men so trained demon- 
strated to the world that while they excelled in 
maintaining city government they knew so little 
of self-government that they obeyed blindly the 

331 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

orders of a small governing class. Community 
civics, with its narrow outlook, does not develop 
the fiber of self-dependent citizenship which goes 
to make the strong nation. 

Recognizing these failings, a number of the 
writers of recent texts in civics are giving more 
vitality to the material used in instruction on 
government. Emphasis upon the practical is 
maintained, while more space is given to the 
significant larger units of government. The eco- 
nomic basis of society is frankly discussed; vital 
matters, such as the relations of capital and labor, 
taxation, and political parties, are given due share 
in the exposition. Occasionally a well-considered 
question is inserted for the purpose of provoking 
discussion. A frank examination of the funda- 
mentals of the existing order is not deemed dan- 
gerous for pupils who will be called upon to be 
a part of it. 

GKOWTH OF ADULT TKAINING FACILITIES 

Recognition of a need of adult education in civ- 
ics is a comparatively recent thing. It is true 
that certain political organizations, such as Tam- 
many Hall, have given to our foreign-born as- 
pirants to citizenship a sort of instruction in their 
civic duties, and connected these lessons with 
most definite assistance in taking out naturaliza- 
tion papers; but the instruction given by such 
organizations was limited to a strict admonition 
to vote regularly and to vote right. The first 
Federal naturalization law provided that an 

332 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

alien, to be admitted to citizenship, must be 
"attached to the principles of the Constitution 
of the United States and well disposed to the 
good order and happiness of the same," and these 
words have been retained in every revision, and 
are still the only legislative educational require- 
ment for naturalization. If Congress had added 
that the petitioner must show that he understands 
the principles of the Constitution, and the form 
of government and the institutions built thereon, 
it would have clarified the issues and greatly 
stimulated interest in the whole campaign for 
education for citizenship. 

While a very few judges here and there, cast 
in the larger mold, have established fair stand- 
ards as to knowledge requisite for admission to 
citizenship, for the most part our courts were 
content with a perfunctory intellectual test, or 
more often, perhaps, with none at all, during the 
hundred years or so before the Act of 1906 gave 
to the Bureau of Naturalization "charge of all 
matters concerning the naturalization of aliens." 
The whole tone of naturalization methods began 
to improve with the appearance in court of Fed- 
eral examiners. These men, although handi- 
capped by a lack of intelligent training, shackled 
by an inchoate policy at headquarters and an 
indeterminate status under the law, yet worked 
honestly and well. They set up questions test- 
ing the candidates' knowledge of our Constitu- 
tion, government, and laws, and objected to the 
admission of the insufficiently informed. They 
were foolish questions sometimes — impossibly 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

hard, or childishly easy, or irrelevant — but, in 
the large, a step in the right direction. The 
judges, with the inevitable modicum of inert 
exceptions, raised the standard — grudgingly, 
tepidly, unenthusiastically — moved by a com- 
plex of influences, among which the unintelligent 
leadership of the Bureau of Naturalization should 
not be overlooked. 

Claims that the Bureau of Naturalization, or 
this public school, or that social-service agency, 
originated the idea of citizenship classes, seem 
unfounded. In one form or another classes for 
this sort of instruction could probably have been 
found by the curious at any time during the last 
century. But with the formulation and applica- 
tion of educational questions by the examiners, 
the movement as a conscious effort began, very 
slowly, to take form. Regarded as a national, 
correlated enterprise, it can scarcely be said even 
yet to have passed the tentative stage, in spite 
of the many isolated cases of excellent work. 

Civics in classes for immigrants is now treated 
in two ways. The first is that direct instruction 
which is given to men who have filed petitions 
for naturalization and are waiting for their hear- 
ing in court; we shall designate this as "civics 
for naturalization." The other type is general 
instruction relating to the government and his- 
tory of the United States, given in other types 
of "Americanization schools"; this is usually 
given in connection with instruction in English. 

There are three classes of aliens who furnish 
the body of pupils to be instructed in the require- 

334 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

ments of citizenship: First, that appallingly large 
number who take no steps looking toward natu- 
ralization; second, those who have made the 
preliminary "declaration of intention to become 
a citizen of the United States," and who are 
waiting — on probation, as it were — for the two 
years required before the law permits them to 
join the third class; and, third, those who have 
filed their petitions for final naturalization and 
await the expiration of the period of at least 
ninety days that must precede their hearing in 
court. According to a rough estimate, the 
Americanization schools of the country (evening 
schools and classes in particular) are made up 
of a negligible number of the first class, and 
draw 10 per cent of their enrollment from the 
second and 90 per cent from the third. Their 
failure to reach those who do not seek citizen- 
ship, and their ability to reach those who have 
filed petitions for final papers, were to have been 
expected. 

62 VARIETIES OF CITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENTS 

The failure of these schools to reach those who 
have made declaration of intention is a serious 
indictment. During the fiscal year 1918, 335,069 
aliens filed declarations of intention; this is more 
than three times the number (110,416) who filed 
petitions for naturalization. Why did our citi- 
zenship classes include so few of these? Among 
other reasons, the following considerations must 
be presented. Classes have not been established, 
by means of either public or private funds, in 

335 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

the major number of communities where they are 
needed. No competent national system for 
bringing such classes as there are properly to 
the attention of declarants has yet been adopted. 
No amount of study on the part of declarants 
can win for them the diplomas which will exempt 
them at the final hearing from the dreaded ex- 
amination in open court; on the other hand, they 
are unwilling to give two years to obtaining 
knowledge which they see petitioners acquiring 
easily in ninety days. The classes now existing, 
considered on the whole, are not yet sufficiently 
vital and interesting, nor sufficiently adaptable 
to the needs of the individual. In the meantime, 
civics for naturalization is designed almost ex- 
clusively for and offered almost exclusively to 
those aliens who down a steadily shortening vista 
of days behold the embarrassing public examina- 
tion which must precede their incorporation into 
the body politic. 

While only the naturalizing judges are vested 
by law with the power to grant or deny citizen- 
ship, it is practically, except in a very small, 
decreasing number of courts, the examiners of 
the Bureau of Naturalization who conduct this 
examination. In many places, because of the 
zeal, intelligence, or fair-mindedness, or all three, 
of the examiners, the judges have come in course 
of time to accept the standards of these latter, 
and have practically delegated to them the power 
of decision in this and all other matters touching 
the naturalization of aliens. In many other 
places the judges have been forced into this course 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

by a volume of naturalization business too great 
for them to handle. Some courts do not notify 
petitioners to appear for their final hearings until 
they have been passed by the examiners, within 
whose offices, and not in open court, as intended 
by the statute, the real examinations for natu- 
ralization take place. 

The Bureau of Naturalization, therefore, has 
had during the last decade an increasingly excel- 
lent opportunity to develop an educational 
standard for admission to citizenship that would 
command universal recognition and respect. 
In point of fact, its standards are as various 
almost as the temperaments of the 62 examiners, 
certainly as the temperaments of the 11 chief 
examiners it employs. There is no uniformity 
of point of view among these men, who advise 
our 2,265 naturalizing courts as to what our 
more than one hundred thousand new citizens a 
year must know — who in the fiscal year 1917-18 
had 10,661 of the candidates "continued for 
ignorance of government." 

It is possible to indicate here one type of 
questions asked. The following are selections 
from a list which is the result of a careful study 
of the work of the examiners under the super- 
vision of a chief examiner in a certain city: 

1. What is the Constitution of the United States? 

2. When and how was the Constitution written and 
adopted? 

3. What is a state and what part does it play in the gov- 
ernment of the United States? 

4. Was there any plan by which the powers were divided 

337 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

between the Federal government and the government of 
the states? 

5. Into how many departments is the Federal govern- 
ment divided? 

6. Which one of these three departments has supreme 
power over the other two? 

7. What are some of these checks against arbitrary and 
illegal use of power by the different departments of the 
Federal government? 

8. What is impeachment? 

9. What is the veto power? 

10. Of what does the legislative department consist? 

11. What is the duty of Congress? 

12. How are the members of the House of Representa- 
tives chosen, and for what term? 

13. Who may be elected a Congressman? 

14. Who presides over the House of Representatives? 

15. How are members of the Senate chosen, and for what 
term? 

16. Who may be elected a Senator? 

17. What is the Cabinet? 

18. What oath does the President take? 

19. What are the duties of the President? 

20. Of what does the judicial department of the Federal 
government consist? 

21. How are the judges of those courts selected, and for 
what terms? 

22. What are the duties of the judges? 

23. What is the only crime that the Constitution 
defines? 

24. How are the other crimes determined? 

25. Can a person who committed a crime be arrested in 
a state other than that in which the crime was committed? 

26. How are new states admitted to the United States? 

27. Can the Constitution be changed? 

28. Can Congress pass any law in regard to religion? 

29. What other guaranties are there in the Constitution? 

30. Can a citizen be deprived of life, liberty, or property? 

338 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

31. What is the form of our government? 

32. Who rules this country? 

33. What is a republic? 

34. What is a monarchy? 

35. How do these kings and emperors get their offices? 

36. How many states are there in the United States? 

37. What is the name of our state? 

38. What is the name of our county? 

39. What is the name of our city? 

40. Who are the two senators from (name of state in 
which examination is held)? 

41. How many representatives does (the state in question) 
have in the House of Representatives? 

42. Who represents the district in which you live? 

43. Who is the chief executive officer of this state? 

44. Who is the present Governor? 

45. Who makes the laws for this state? 

46. Where does the legislature meet? 

47. Who makes the laws for the city of (name of city 
in which applicant resides) ? 

48. How is the common council elected? 

49. In what ward do you live? 

50. Who is the chief executive of the city? 

51. Who elects him? 

52. Who is our present mayor? 



EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP OP NATURALIZATION 
BUREAU 

The Bureau of Naturalization claims to be "co- 
operating" with more than two thousand places 
where citizenship classes have been established. 
It devotes twenty-three pages of its annual re- 
port for the fiscal year 1918-19 to a list of them, 
showing in each case the number of names of 
applicants for citizenship it has furnished from 
its records to the local school authorities. Many 

339 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

superintendents of schools in places so listed have 
disclaimed knowledge of the purpose of the 
laboriously prepared cards on which the names 
are given, and many more have made no use of 
them. We have been unable to find corrobora- 
tion for the statistics alleged by the Bureau of 
Naturalization as to the number of communities 
maintaining classes, and so use our own data on 
this matter. 

The 1918 report of the Bureau of Naturaliza- 
tion states that it is co-operating with 1,802 school 
systems. But 903 of these are listed as co-operat- 
ing indirectly, which, according to the 1917 
report, means they "have made arrangements 
with schools in adjacent communities for their 
candidates for naturalization." This leaves 899 
school systems which co-operate "by opening 
their public schools for the instruction of the 
candidates for citizenship and other resident 
foreigners." (Report, 1916). 

That 899 systems have such classes is denied 
by information secured by this Study. Nowhere 
do the bureau's reports list these "direct co- 
operators." But in following through several 
reports it becomes apparent that the figure 899 
is secured by adding each year the number of 
new direct co-operators to all those of the 
preceding years. No deductions are ever made 
for schools which may have stopped this 
work. 

The first year in which school systems co- 
operating are listed is 1916, giving 613. In the 
1917 report this number is divided into 547 co- 

340 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

operating directly, and 66 indirectly. This Study 
has replies about provision from 446 of these 547 
"direct co-operators," 323 of whom report classes 
and 123 report "no classes" in 1917-18. There 
were 101 places from which this Study had no 
reports. For the years 1916-17 and 1917-18 the 
bureau reports 352 new cities opening schools. 
Without being able to tell in how many of these 
352 places the schools expired after a short life, 
we do know that other older attempts in 123 
places ceased. This again gives more than one 
death to every three births in activities of school 
systems in conducting classes for immigrants, as 
was disclosed by a comparison of Bureau of Edu- 
cation figures with those of this Study in Chap- 
ter III. 

Further evidence of the unreliability of the 
bureau's reports of progress in schooling of the 
immigrant appears from a closer study of its 
statements. These make special mention of 
eighty-seven cities whose work is noteworthy for 
various reasons. This Study has statements from 
fourteen of these places that they have no classes 
at all for immigrants. The bureau continues to 
report them all as active co-operators. Such 
discrepancies are doubtless due to the bureau's 
taking official statements of schools that they 
"are opening their doors" as the equivalent of 
a report that classes are actually being conducted. 
It is a fair question to ask what kind of educa- 
tional leadership is furnished by an agency 
which is unconscious of the nonexistence of its 
star exhibits. The report of an agencv which 

341 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

lists only its assets and not its liabilities is not 
a reliable indication of achievement. 

CLASSES FOR PROFIT 

The classes listed by the Bureau of Naturaliza- 
tion, so far as they really exist, are conducted 
in or under the supervision of the public schools, 
but they have not supplanted as yet those con- 
ducted by other agencies and by individuals. 
For years petitioners have been in the habit of 
seeking instruction in the answers to the expected 
questions from bartenders, lawyers, priests, 
clerks of court, political clubs, insurance societies, 
etc., and this practice still continues. The fol- 
lowing is an example of a typical private class. 
A certain individual of Cleveland has a large 
acquaintance in a foreign-born neighborhood. 
His chief occupation is that of notary public and 
he has a sign in his window reading "Citizen 
Papers Secured"; candidates for citizenship go 
to him, deposit ten dollars, for which they receive 
a receipt which specifies that in case they do not 
pass the examination the money will be refunded, 
and a group of such applicants are gathered 
together into a class which he teaches twice a 
week for several weeks. The men are drilled 
until they can answer a list of definite questions 
and then are sent to the naturalization examiner, 
who,being limited by the routine into which he has 
allowed himself to fall, asks them the questions in 
preparation for which they have paid ten dollars. 
The individual in question has lived for several 
years upon the profits of these classes and has 

342 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

sent two of his sons through college and profes- 
sional schools. At one time in the city of 
Cleveland at least a dozen individuals were 
living on the profits of such enterprises. The 
name of "uibbler" has been given to them. 

A distinct form of exploitation of the peti- 
tioner's ignorance is the use of a "citizenship 
class" conducted by some agency whi|ph hopes 
to proselyte the new citizen. An example of this 
is a class regularly conducted by a "wet" or- 
ganization in a certain American city; this 
organization would send letters, at regular inter- 
vals, to all men who were ready to file petitions, 
reminding them of their eligibility for citizen- 
ship and of the fact that the organization in 
question conducted a free class preparing men 
for naturalization. Hundreds have been pre- 
pared in these classes during the past five years. 

SCHOOL CERTIFICATE VS. COURT EXAMINATION 

The following account of a class in the Denver 
Public Opportunity School is taken from the 
Outlook of September 11, 1918: 

No one is there from the mistaken idea that if he would 
be naturalized, attendance is compulsory. Those who wish 
to obtain the necessary information elsewhere are free to 
do so; those who stand satisfactorily the preliminary exami- 
nation conducted by the naturalization service are told that 
they are sufficiently well informed to pass the test imposed 
by the court, and need not learn more; but the class is 
recommended to the attention of them all, and university 
graduates, high-salaried professional men, engineers, artists, 
cooks, waiters, and street sweepers sit there comfortably 
side by side, only one citizen of the United States among 
343 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

them — their teacher. The city furnishes his services, but 
they are indebted to the spirit of American democracy for 
his point of view. 

For months at a time 100 per cent of the aliens 
naturalized in Denver have been trained in this 
class. Another interesting policy has been in- 
stituted in the public-school classes for immi- 
grants in Los Angeles. Upon the completion of 
the course in these classes a certificate of gradua- 
tion is given by the public-school authorities; 
this certificate is in effect recognized by both 
naturalization examiners and judges as satisfy- 
ing the educational requirements for citizenship. 

Similar certificates are now issued in at least 
a score of other places. When countersigned by 
representatives of the naturalization service, 
many judges are willing to accept them in lieu 
of an educational examination in open court. 
The Bureau of Naturalization has issued instruc- 
tions, however, that such countersignature be 
withheld except in those cases where its examin- 
ers have been able personally to examine the 
holders of the certificates and have found them 
sufficiently informed. As there are hundreds of 
naturalization hearings which are not attended 
by examiners, and many more in connection 
with which the examiners conduct no prelimi- 
nary examination of applicants, this stand is 
unfortunate. It is equivalent to claiming that 
the examiners, who have had no pedagogical 
training or even clear instructions, are better 
qualified to pass in a few moments upon the 
educational qualifications of an applicant than 

344 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

the school-teacher who has been instructing him 
for three months, and who has had him under 
close, sympathetic observation. The bureau 
claims that it has not the right to delegate this 
power to the teacher, and that the teacher might 
abuse it if he had it. If this is true, the bureau 
should be given the right; it would not be diffi- 
cult to devise a system of national supervision 
of teachers of citizenship classes which would 
be substantially more effective than that under 
which the naturalization examiners are now work- 
ing. The Federal Vocational Educational Board 
has established a suggestive method of securing 
conformity of local with national standards. 
Nation-wide recognition by judges and examiners 
of the certificate of graduation issued by the 
citizenship classes of the public schools is pivotal. 
More than any other one measure it would swell 
the size and importance of such classes. 

GOOD AND BAD TEXTBOOKS 

In their search for information immigrant ap- 
plicants for citizenship have also had recourse 
to leaflets, pamphlets, and books published by 
individuals, organizations, municipalities, etc. 
Some of these unofficial sources of information 
are good, some are bad, and some are indifferent. 
Empirically most of them are more serviceable 
than the textbook issued by the government. 
Often they have been sold by clerks of court for 
profit. Nor is this to be wondered at; these 
books or pamphlets appeared long before the 
governmental publication, and were the only 

23 345 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

things available at the time. In many places 
they still hold the field against the government 
text, by virtue of their simplicity, brevity, in- 
structional value, or local relevancy, as the case 
may be. 

In an attempt to supplant worthless types of 
publications, and at the same time to give what 
the government has failed to give, a number of 
cities have issued naturalization manuals for free 
distribution. The Detroit Board of Commerce, 
the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, and the 
Cleveland Americanization Committee have is- 
sued such pamphlets and have distributed them 
in great numbers. In Cleveland alone over 
100,000 of these have been distributed free of 
charge during the past five years. 

A certain similarity marks the pamphlets 
issued in these three cities. The following list 
of lesson topics, taken from the Detroit Manual, 
indicates the ground they cover: 

Citizenship in the United States of America. 

Geography of the United States. 

History of the United States to the Revolution. 

History of the Country to the Civil War. 

History of the United States from the Civil War to Our 
Own Time. 

The Federal Government: the Legislative Branch, the 
Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch. 

The Constitution of Michigan. 

Detroit: Its History and Government. 

Important Facts about Detroit. 

Political Parties: Politics; Voting; How, When, and 
Where to Vote. 

Important Facts about Our Laws: Civil and Criminal 
Cases; Relations of Husband and Wife. 
346 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

One of the most objectional features in all of this 
preparation for naturalization has been the 
attention given to lists of questions and answers. 
It is gratifying to note that in the newer editions 
of the Detroit and Cleveland manuals no fixed 
lists of questions have been included. 

THE GOVERNMENT'S TEXTBOOK 

In 1918 the Bureau of Naturalization issued a 
Student's Textbook represented in the subtitle as 
"a standard course of instruction for use in the 
public schools of the United States for the prep- 
aration of the candidates for the responsibilities 
of citizenship." This book was compiled by 
Raymond F. Crist, director of citizenship in the 
Bureau of Naturalization; its preparation and 
distribution were authorized by an act of Con- 
gress of May 9, 1918. Great efforts have been 
made by the bureau to get educational authori- 
ties to use this book, yet in the course of this 
survey it has been very difficult to find any 
public-school systems which are using it as a 
textbook. In fact, practically all schoolmen who 
have examined it are unanimous in declaring 
that it is utterly unusable in the classes for which 
it is intended. It is fair to say, however, that 
the Bureau of Naturalization has announced 
that a new and revised edition is being prepared. 
While an extended review of this book is not 
permitted by the space available here, it will be 
interesting to examine this first attempt at a 
standardized course in citizenship undertaken 
by a branch of the government of the United 

347 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

States. The Student 9 s Textbook is, according to 
Mr. Crist, a compilation of a large amount of 
material sent to the bureau by the public schools 
of the United States. It is very difficult to find 
in it, however, any indication that the more 
highly developed systems of instruction in civics 
have been used. In fact, most of the schools of 
the country are using textbooks, issued by stand- 
ard publishers, which are protected by copyright, 
and if any of these have been used the bureau 
has not indicated it by any acknowledgment. 

The textbook is made up of seven parts. The 
first consists of twenty lessons in English which, 
according to the best standards of work in 
teaching English, are wholly unscientific and 
practically unusable. The second part is en- 
titled "The National Government"; it consists 
of fifty-six pages, forty-two of which are taken up 
with a minute description of the bureaus, boards, 
and commissions which form that small part 
of the American governmental machinery which 
is found in Washington. This elaborate treat- 
ment extends to such statements of detail as the 
following: " The Bureau [of Fisheries] has fifty 
principal hatcheries, located at suitable places in 
the United States, which in the fiscal year 1916 
produced 4,800,000,000 fish and fish eggs." An 
examination of the nine leading textbooks on gov- 
ernment shows that on an average they devote 
to consideration of the national administration 8 
per cent of the entire discussion; the Student's 
Textbook gives 32 percent of its space to this topic. 

The third part of this text is a two-page 

348 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

description of the city of Washington, the fourth 
a reprint of an address by President Wilson; 
the fifth is called "A Citizenship Laboratory"; 
the sixth part, "Fundamentals for the American 
Home," consists of a compilation of very useful 
material in home economics; the seventh is a 
three-page treatise on hygiene. 

The language of this book is altogether un- 
suited to the understanding of the men and 
women for whom it is intended. In places it 
is difficult, and the thought abstract, as in the 
following example: 

In order that the necessary data may be secured, it is 
necessary to make accurate measurements of the distances 
over the areas to be charted and the fixing of points for the 
control of the surveys. The method employed for deter- 
mining these control points is known as triangulation [p. 89]. 

There seems to have been no attempt on the 
part of the Bureau of Naturalization to bring 
the standards of the examiners in line with the 
Student's Textbook. For example, nearly every 
examiner asks the question, "In what way is the 
President elected?" An applicant for citizen- 
ship who takes at its face value the statement of 
the subtitle of the book could with some justice 
reply, "I have read the 'standard course.' It 
does not contain an answer to your question, 
but I can tell you the exact dimensions of the 
Senate Chamber." The book contains a large 
number of errors; there is no evidence of expert 
checking up of the material used. Unless the 
revision of this book is so complete as to be 

349 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

practically a rewriting along lines that are 
scientifically and pedagogically correct, there is 
no question that Congress should repeal the 
legislation which permits the Bureau of Naturali- 
zation to publish a standard textbook. 

The unsatisfactory nature of any short course 
in civics, such as those usually conducted for 
petitioners for naturalization, has been recog- 
nized by all who are sensible to the need of real 
instruction in citizenship. Unquestionably the 
place to teach the essential facts concerning 
America and its history and institutions, is in 
connection with the teaching of English. Many 
of the better texts for work in English include a 
large amount of "citizenship material," which 
relieves this phase of instruction of the character 
of an intensified system of memory drilling. In 
addition to this study of elementary facts con- 
cerning American institutions, many classes have 
carried on a very practical instruction in citizen- 
ship through (1) the singing of patriotic songs, 
the recitation of patriotic poems, and the cele- 
bration of national holidays; (2) organization 
of the students as a miniature government with 
imitation of the actual processes of self-govern- 
ment — i.e., legislative bodies are elected, and 
mock trials and political conventions are held; 
(3) encouragement of free discussion of matters 
of general public interest by the students. 

SUMMARY OF THE PROBLEM 

Training in citizenship has, during the last few 
years, tended to become more and more practical, 

350 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

while the most recent tendencies have introduced 
a large amount of fundamental teaching bearing 
on social and governmental problems. Adult 
education in civics has very largely developed on 
account of the insistence of the Bureau of Natu- 
ralization and of naturalization judges upon a 
knowledge of American government and insti- 
tutions on the part of those who seek naturaliza- 
tion, for which the Bureau of Naturalization 
deserves great credit. Two kinds of teaching in 
civics for adults at present prevail in Americani- 
zation classes: the first is a training in a few 
facts concerning the government and Constitu- 
tion designed especially for men filing petitions 
for naturalization; the second is that general in- 
struction in civic and social responsibility which 
is often given in connection with lessons in 
English. 

The training of men for the naturalization 
examination has given rise to grave exploitation 
by individuals and organizations that serve a 
selfish purpose, through their influence over the 
men whom they serve. This evil has been most 
successfully lessened by those cities which have 
met the needs of applicants for naturalization 
by means of classes supported by public funds. 

One of the most unfortunate tendencies in the 
training of men for naturalization has been 
caused by the insistence of the Bureau of Natu- 
ralization and of naturalizing judges upon purely 
formal knowledge of facts concerning history 
and government. This has given rise to a parrot- 
like repetition by candidates of stereotyped an- 

351 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

swers to still more stereotyped questions. There 
has been no attempt on the part of the United 
States government to establish real standards 
for admission to citizenship. The nearest ap- 
proach to this has been the publication by the 
Bureau of Naturalization of the Student's Text- 
book, which is utterly lacking in pedagogic suit- 
ability. This text attempts both to set up a 
method of acquiring English as a medium of 
expression and to furnish a body of instruction 
about citizenship, a difficult task at best, and in 
no way accomplished by this publication. It is 
to be supposed that the many proposals for con- 
structive efforts will result in offering instruction 
in English to a larger and larger number of non- 
English-speaking aliens. The concerns of citi- 
zenship should be a large part of the subject 
matter by means of which English is taught. 
The ideal should be that every man who files 
his declaration of intention should receive during 
the two years of waiting some kind of instruction 
in English and citizenship. This, of course, will 
not be accomplished, but all educational authori- 
ties should attempt to impart as much training 
concerning government and the social relations 
of the individual as is necessary for fairly effec- 
tive participation in civic life. The teaching of 
English and the teaching of citizenship should go 
hand in hand. 

A NINETY DAYS' TRAINING LIMIT 

For several years to come, regardless of how 
well organized the work for declarants may be, 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

there will be the men who have filed petitions 
and await a hearing within ninety days, and who 
have up to this point had no preparation; this 
makes necessary the continuance of classes and 
other facilities for assisting these men to satisfy 
the requirements of naturalizing judges. This 
work should be organized in the following 
manner: 

1. The names and addresses of the men eligible 
for filing petitions should be secured from the 
declarations file by the school authorities. Let- 
ters should be sent to the men inviting them to 
attend classes for the preparation of petitioners 
for the hearing in court. Experience indicates 
that such letters will reach at least 75 per cent 
of these men. 

2. Classes should be established for these 
ninety-day men, preferably in public schools, 
and under the auspices of the latter. When 
there is a choice between a public agency and a 
private corporation, the former should be chosen; 
the public agency is freer from suspicion as to 
ulterior motive. The matter of place, however, 
should be determined by the practical considera- 
tion of where the men can best be reached. Often 
a branch library or a parochial school will be a 
more convenient place than the public school. 

3. These classes should be conducted for at 
least ten weeks before the hearing in court. If 
a man understands English, the minimum of 
preparation required of him should be attendance 
for at least ten two-hour periods. This time will 
necessarily have to be extended for certain indi- 

353 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

viduals. Teachers in these classes should be able 
to assist their men through the many difficulties 
attendant upon the taking out of citizenship 
papers. It will often be necessary, in a large 
system, to have a special legal assistant going 
from class to class to assist the teachers in this 
work. 

4. Certificates of satisfactory completion of 
such a course, according to standards established 
at Washington for the whole country, should be 
given by the agency conducting the classes. 
Naturalizing judges should recognize these cer- 
tificates as satisfying the educational require- 
ments for naturalization. Public recognition 
should be given to graduates of these classes by 
means of public exercises. 

One of the most difficult questions concerning 
the schooling of the foreign born in citizenship 
is that of standards. It is easy for moralizers 
to speak of "training in Americanism," of "teach- 
ing the principles of the Constitution," but it is 
not easy to formulate a body of principles which 
will be generally accepted as the tenets of an 
American faith. In fact, if we are truly Ameri- 
can we will deprecate any attempt to make a 
hard-and-fast statement of the requirements of 
citizenship. We should consider that with all 
the effective organization of public-school admin- 
istration and its long development, it has still 
achieved no national standard in arithmetic 
and no generally accepted budget of information 
which represents a standard course in physiology. 
We should not regret, therefore, that there is no 

354 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

universally accepted set of facts which com- 
prises the information necessary for becoming a 
good citizen. Federal bureaus should and will 
publish courses in citizenship. It is to be hoped 
that Federal bureaus better equipped for the 
task than the Bureau of Naturalization may 
formulate many such courses; but this will not 
even to a small degree meet the practical needs 
of schoolmen in the immediate future. Stand- 
ards should be formulated loosely in every city 
and adjusted to meet the currents of the best 
thought upon the subject. The latest informa- 
tion indicates that thirty-nine texts in civics 
are in process of preparation. We shall not 
lack "standard courses"; it will be from the 
gradual blend of all of this thought that the 
standards of the future will be determined. 

It may not be inappropriate, however, in this 
discussion to indicate some of the factors which 
makers of civics courses should not overlook. 
The naturalization course is necessarily limited 
by reason of two things: first, the short time 
available for it, and, second, the standards which 
naturalization judges still believe to be proper. 
With due recognition of these limitations, the 
short course suggested above should not neglect 
the following subjects: 

1. Government, its nature and kinds. 

2. The framework of the government of the United 
States. 

3. History (within the compass of short lessons), with 
special attention to the great social movements, such as 
the development of the modern industrial system and life. 

355 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

4. The place of the state in the Federal union, and the 
government of the state in which the student resides. 

5. The social and economic functions of a state. 

6. The government of the city and its functions. 

7. Political parties, nominations, and elections. 

8. Elementary facts (one or two lessons) concerning police 
regulations of the city, such as ordinances protecting the 
public health, etc. 

The longer course which can and should be 
given in connection with lessons in English may 
consist of a more or less elaborate treatment 
of the following general subjects: 

1. The nature of government, its kinds and functions; 
anarchism, socialism, and republican government. 

2. The history of the United States, with special empha- 
sis upon such great social movements as the peopling of the 
continent, the industrial revolution, the rise of concentrated 
industry, and the beginnings of the organization of labor. 

3. The framework of the governments of nation, state, 
and city. 

4. Community welfare, such as health, recreation, edu- 
cation, public safety, and public works. 

5. The economic concerns of a citizen, such as the care 
of his money, the use of public employment agencies and 
trade-unions, and other industrial relations. 

6. The part of the citizen in government: political par- 
ties, voting, and general interest in public affairs. 

7. The international relations of the United States. 

CITIZENSHIP VS. CIVICS 

Training in citizenship for adult immigrants 
must be practical in the extreme. The short 
period during which the student is able to attend 
school and the importance of the part which as a 
citizen he must soon take in government makes 

356 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

actual practice in the functions of citizenship 
most desirable. He should be taught to vote by 
actually marking ballots; he should be encour- 
aged to express his ideals before the class, and 
required to take part in parliamentary practice 
in the class. Free discussion of all political and 
economic questions should be not only allowed, 
but encouraged; the citizenship class must take 
its part in developing rational and orderly dis- 
cussion of public questions. • The teacher who 
prevents this is doing an inestimable injury to 
the American school system; when the agitator 
can illustrate by concrete examples that the 
American school is not free, he is striking at the 
vitals of republican government. 

The most important principle in all this work 
is this, that whatever exercises the organizing 
and co-operative capacities of the individual is 
the most vital kind of training for participation 
in a democratic government. This is "practi- 
cal" civic education in the truest sense. We 
must be sufficiently resourceful to be able to put 
our undergraduates in citizenship into positions 
as nearly similar as possible to those in which they 
will be placed in the fulfillment of their duties as 
citizens. Practice in voting, discussions upon 
public questions, self-determination within the 
class as to the details of classroom administra- 
tion, are all useful exercises in self-government. 
In one city, mock trials have been held in citizen- 
ship classes, with students acting as judges, jury, 
attorneys, and other officers of the court; like- 
wise a miniature city council has succeeded in 

357 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

adding reality to instruction in civics. Similar 
classroom patterns of other institutions have 
been successfully used; in the grades and the 
high school these methods have already been 
developed until they constitute a permanent 
part of instruction in civics. 

There are, however, limitations in the use of 
these methods in adult citizenship classes. Men 
seeking long-delayed citizenship papers are in a 
hurry for results; limitation of time is especially 
a factor in the case of the ninety-day men. 
Further, the naturalization examiners are still 
basing their tests of fitness for citizenship upon 
primitive memory tests; the teacher is face to 
face with a situation which does not allow of 
much experimentation. It must also be remem- 
bered that these students are mature men and 
women; this is a fact that is too often forgotten 
by Americanization workers. Such students in 
citizenship are often men upon whom reality 
has burned a deep imprint. They will chafe 
under methods which seem to them unreal and 
childlike; they do not want to "play at" 
government. 

PRACTICE IN CITIZENSHIP 

Practice in co-operation as a part of r instruction 
in citizenship should be directly used in activities 
bearing directly upon the vital concerns of the 
student. It is not important that the form with 
which this activity is associated be called by 
the same name as a governmental institution. 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

If it compels organization, self-government, and 
co-operative activity, it is of the very essence of 
training for citizenship. In government itself 
it is not the form but the activity which is en- 
during. Often in the history of civilization old 
governmental institutions have been swept away 
by revolution and supplanted by obscure but 
vital organizations which had till then existed 
for purposes other than governmental, as the pre- 
revolutionary committee of correspondence be- 
came the beginnings of our Federal government. 

To specify what a teacher can do in this mat- 
ter of training for co-operation is not easy. It 
will, in the last analysis, depend upon her own 
resources. She should never lose practical oppor- 
tunity of allowing the class to decide questions 
of class policy — e.g., when possible, the time of 
meeting, the method of class procedure, the 
administration of class parties and graduation 
exercises. In one city a citizenship class organ- 
ized and petitioned the city council for the ex- 
tension of certain improvements in their section 
of the city; such an experiment indicates a vast 
field for this realistic land of activity. 

The relation between the New York Board of 
Education and the educational committee of 
the Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, described 
in Chapter III, is an illustration in point. Here 
an organization of immigrants is learning citi- 
zenship through responsible, reciprocal relations 
with a department of government. The actual 
collective decisions of the educational commit- 
tee are exercises in group self -direction; the re- 

359 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

lation of the committee and the rank and file of 
the union is an education for both in the require- 
ments and limitations of representative govern- 
ment; the educational committee's dealings with 
school officials is an initiation into actual govern- 
mental operations. The farther the public schools 
go in establishing co-operative relations with self- 
directed groups of immigrants for educational 
purposes, the more opportunities they will be 
creating for learning by doing in the field of 
self-government. 

The American House, a community center 
connected with the public schools of Cincinnati, 
is establishing co-operative relations of various 
sorts with immigrant organizations. Not only 
will the questions arising from these relations 
furnish experience in democratic action for the 
foreign-born groups, but the American House 
officials will become cognizant of problems en- 
tirely within these organizations, and helpful 
suggestion and discussion of truly democratic 
solutions would be giving aid in self-government. 
Determining how a disputed extra assessment in 
a benefit society could be duly authorized would 
be a contribution to an understanding of taxation 
in a democratic government. 

Of course classes in citizenship cannot depend 
for material on the chance occurrence of perti- 
nent situations within other organizations to 
which pupils belong. Therefore the course in 
citizenship should provide for regular discussion 
of live questions of procedure in the many self- 
directed groups so common among immigrants. 



SCHOOLING IN CITIZENSHIP 

The following questions, for example, are imme- 
diate to the pupils' own interests: After what 
action are labor leaders justified in calling a 
strike — after a referendum of all members, an 
action of a delegate convention, or a decision of 
only a governing board? In what way may lodge 
officials be removed for improper conduct? How 
shall a decision be reached as to whether the 
profits of a co-operative shall be distributed in 
dividends on purchase or spent on welfare activi- 
ties? Such questions are current and vital in 
the lives of immigrants. They are problems in 
actual self-government. May not the learning 
to solve them contribute as effectively to present 
American citizenship as the decision to have a 
school, to organize a militia company, or to ring 
a curfew prepared the fathers of our nation for 
establishing the American Republic? 

In passing, it may be remarked that thousands 
of American workingmen learn a great deal 
about organized government in labor-union meet- 
ings. Possibilities may offer for co-operation with 
labor-union activities. In those industries where 
shop committees and other such organizations 
are encouraged, it should be easy to combine 
instruction in citizenship with the activities of 
these. The possibilities of developing co-opera- 
tion in the industrial plant are almost unlimited, 
and co-operative stores, lunch rooms, and recrea- 
tional activities are more valuable for training of 
citizenship than all the books on civics ever 
written. 

In cities where comprehensive efforts are being 

24 361 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

made to enroll all non-English-speaking immi- 
grants in classes in English, the aid of naturali- 
zation classes should be invaluable. Members 
of such classes might organize for the purpose of 
recruiting new applicants for citizenship. A 
city-wide organization of all naturalized citizens 
should be perfected, but its purpose should be 
vital, and nonpolitical. Such activities might 
very well constitute the practice in self-governing 
organization which we are seeking; the future 
of civic education, perhaps of all organized gov- 
ernment, is measured only by the capacity of 
educators to develop the co-operative instincts 
of common men everywhere. 



XI 

SUMMARY 

America has undertaken the problem of national 
unification or Americanization in a fashion simi- 
lar to that in which she undertook the conduct 
of the war. An unsuspected situation was sud- 
denly revealed to us and we hastened to make 
amends for past negligence. We wished to attack 
it wholesale, without large expenditure, and get 
the troublesome task over with, so as to resume 
the normal tenor of existence. But we are find- 
ing that the problem is more subtle than we had 
supposed, and that our national genius for getting 
quick results is balked by this situation, strange 
to our habitual comprehensions. We shall not 
be as quickly rid of this newer problem as we were 
of the war, and our methods must be entirely 
different. 

THE TASK IS NEVER DONE 

The war was a challenge to the efficacy of our 
material and spiritual forces, and its carrying out 
meant the production of materials, equipment, 
guns, and machinery, as well as the development 
of the spirit of courage and sacrifice. National 
unification presents a more complex situation, 

363 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

and one that cannot be dealt with in a hurried 
fashion. The problem promises to be with us 
indefinitely, at least as long as aliens come to our 
shores. Even should immigration cease entirely 
we should probably need to await a gradual 
evolution of feeling and action to bring about 
the condition which is sought by those who hope 
immediately by the "drive" method to make all 
individuals 100-per-cent Americans. We may 
rightly proceed by emotional challenges to arouse 
public attention to the seriousness of the situa- 
tion, for the securing of funds, and for the estab- 
lishment of instruments suitable for an enduring 
function. The process of national unification, 
however, is primarily one of education and time; 
it is not to be undertaken impulsively, but sys- 
tematically, persistently, and determinedly. 

The act of the alien taking out his first papers 
means very little in relation to national unifica- 
tion. Thousands of aliens are taking out first 
papers under the coercion of employers in order 
to retain their employment, many others to avoid 
oppressive taxation. Nor does the process of 
naturalization mean much more in many in- 
stances. Thousands have been naturalized at 
the instigation of politicians who strive for party 
control. Naturalization of late has come to 
mean much more than formerly, and is, conse- 
quently, a greater guaranty of desirable citizen- 
ship; but it is a mistake to assume that natu- 
ralization of the individual completes the process 
of unification, and that further concern about the 
attitudes of the naturalized citizen is unnecessary. 

364 



SUMMARY 

The problem before us, consequently, is prac- 
tically permanent in so far as we can forecast 
the probabilities of the future. Mushroom or- 
ganizations, like councils of defense, citizens' 
organizations, and the like, are not competent 
to undertake successfully the careful and per- 
sistent efforts necessary toward an effective solu- 
tion. The organization to be chosen must have 
permanency like that of our school systems or 
our courts. The difficulties before us should not 
deter us. The chief business of a democracy is 
the making of citizens. The task is never done, 
but always in process; each child is a candidate 
for education for citizenship. We make the mis- 
take of thinking that the problem of citizenship 
for the foreign born is essentially different from 
that of the native born, whereas the two are 
fundamentally the same. 

ASSUMPTION OF SUPERIORITY 

The native born, who are carrying the burden 
of national unification, must rid themselves of 
two kinds of obsessions before they will be spirit- 
ually fit to undertake the task of securing the 
whole-souled loyalty and co-operation of the 
foreign born. These delusions are, first, that 
native Americans constitute a superior race when 
compared with the foreign born, and, second, that 
our institutions and aspirations are peculiar and 
distinctive to our own people and country. It 
is recognized that Americans only exhibit usual 
nationalistic conceits in these assumptions of 

365 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

superiority. Human nature everywhere has been 
prone to the same defects: even the cultured 
Greeks looked upon all those of non-Hellenic 
race as barbarians; and it is related that in a 
certain village of Switzerland, where the majority 
of the natives had goiters, those not so affected 
were objects of ridicule. A progressive stage of 
civilization is characterized, among other quali- 
ties, by the capacity of its citizens to recognize 
both the shortcomings of their own group and 
the virtue of other nationalities. We need to 
approach the problem of national unification, 
consequently, "with an humble and contrite 
heart," as Kipling sings when praying for the 
preservation of the English people; we need to 
do it in the spirit of Christian charity, which 
warns against seeing the mote in our brother's 
eye when the beam is in our own. 

Again, the love of liberty, which we ordinarily 
assume to be distinctive of Americans, is but a 
fundamental desire wherever the human species 
is found. The differences in the degree of liberty 
prevailing in various nationalities is due chiefly 
to the difficulties which they have respectively 
encountered in their efforts to secure freedom. 
We have been more fortunate, perhaps, than 
others, in that institutions and conditions which 
elsewhere have thwarted liberty have never 
existed here. 

The recent war ought to do much toward cor- 
recting many of our unfounded assumptions. 
Nationalities have been set free that have 
struggled centuries where we strove for years, 



SUMMARY 

and against difficulties immensely greater than 
our own. Americans in Cleveland during the 
war were cheered as well as astonished by an 
inscription on the banners of marching Czecho- 
slovaks: "Americans, do not be discouraged. 
We have been fighting these tyrants for three 
hundred years. We are Americans through 
and through by the spirit of our nation." The 
immigrant's viewpoint and aspiration are essen- 
tially similar to ours. Usually neither the im- 
migrant nor the native is aware of this, and each 
thinks that the other is essentially different. 
The popular epithets applied to immigrants illus- 
trate the common assumption of differences of 
viewpoint and of the supposed superiority of the 
native. 

UNION OF EQUALS 

National unification means the realization of the 
oneness of the native and the foreign born. We 
need to understand each other. Misunderstand- 
ing is the chief obstacle which prevents the 
fusion process. We cannot understand each 
other when there is a confusion of tongues, hence 
the need of establishing through education a 
medium of communication. But knowledge of 
English is only a means, not an end, and naturali- 
zation is in the same category. We do not judge 
quality of citizenship in the native from the fact 
that he speaks English or that he has the right 
to vote, but from the way in which he exercises 
the rights of citizenship. 

The lessening use of the term "Americaniza- 

367 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

tion" shows appreciation of the fact that na- 
tional unification is not a matter of conversion 
from a lower to a higher plane, but rather a 
process of joining equally meritorious forces 
for a better common nationalism, a more perfect 
state of human happiness. The foreign born 
need more education, so do the native born; 
both need infinitely more, and largely the same 
kind of education. 

The number of non-English-speaking aliens 
among us is not large, not over 3 per cent of 
our total population. The problem of improving 
the character of our citizenship is large indeed, 
embracing in some respects 100 per cent of our 
citizens. Americanization, or better, national 
unification, should not mean the effort of nine- 
tenths of the population to obliterate the crude- 
ness or differences of one-tenth who have come 
to us as aliens, but should mean the earnest 
effort of the whole nation to rise to a higher level. 
It is not the immigrant minority which is a 
menace to our institutions; the condition of 
the whole mass is what gives us concern. By 
improving the majority we shall make the 
minority safe. 

In assuming fundamental racial equality among 
our various peoples in respect to potentiality for 
effective citizenship, it is not intended to establish 
a case for the internationalism now preached 
by radical socialists, which is in reality an old 
theory of the communists who have long sought 
to organize people on the basis of class interests 
independent of nationality. Throughout this 



SUMMARY 

volume is presented the standpoint that national- 
ism is the strongest uniting force in human 
action. Invariably in history the conflicts be- 
tween religious and nationalistic forces have 
resulted in the triumph of nationalism. We have 
the example of the Socialists of Germany aban- 
doning the theory of internationalism at the out- 
break of the war, voting the war credits and 
justifying the action of the fatherland in entering 
a war of conquest. The present difficulties of 
the world in the effort to establish a just and 
lasting peace are centered around the nation- 
alistic motives of the various peoples involved. 
The trite maxim that "blood is thicker than 
water" sums up a world experience. Nation- 
alism is a reality that cannot be ignored. 

America possesses a nationalism that is hard 
to define, perhaps, but none the less keenly felt 
in the hearts of her citizens. America cannot 
be said to have discovered new principles of 
human conduct, but to have presented a better 
opportunity for successful application of existing 
ones. In our Constitution, in our Declaration 
of Independence, in the utterances of our great 
leaders, appear the American expression of these 
principles; but the principles themselves are 
universal and eternal. 

Made up as we are of the representatives of 
all nationalities, we can but accept the principle 
of the essential equality of all nationalities. 
Individuals of all races have the right to vote 
and participate in our government; we cannot 
assume that the Anglo-Saxon or the Scandinavian 

369 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

casts his vote more intelligently or more honestly 
than the Slav or the Southern Italian. The dis- 
tinctive characteristic of America is this recogni- 
tion of human equality and the effort to realize 
in our land the natural desire of persons of all 
nationalities among us to live under just con- 
ditions. These are the things we offer to the 
immigrant when asking him to join the fellow- 
ship of our democracy. Usually, as he perceives 
and appreciates the institutions of America, he 
begins to feel the new loyalty. 

America must exhibit to the alien the evidence 
of the thing she would have him love. This 
thing cannot be an abstraction or a theory, but 
a reality. There must be conditions of justice, 
of protection, of opportunity which are a chal- 
lenge to gratitude, which again is a universal 
impulse in the hearts of men, common to all 
nationalities. The alien who finds a home in 
our land, who locates his economic and senti- 
mental interests within our borders, instinctively 
develops a sense of belonging to the new group. 
The home feeling and the group feeling are 
fundamental in the development of the nation- 
alistic sentiment; a new home and new groups 
mean eventually a new sense of nationality. 
Those who picture a pure internationalism ignore 
these fundamental tendencies of human feeling; 
no one can read Edward Everett Hale's book, 
The Man Without a Country, without appreciat- 
ing the sense of loss which Philip Nolan experi- 
enced. It is well, indeed, that all nations develop 
new international sympathies, so that nation- 

370 



SUMMARY 

alities no longer seek to dispossess or destroy 
other nationalities; but indifference to nation- 
ality is not a mark of progress, but rather an 
abnormality. 



EDUCATION, DEMOCRACY S BEST TOOL 

Education as applied to the alien furnishes the 
means whereby he can sense and understand 
things American, particularly institutions, laws, 
opportunities, obligations, and protections. This 
educational process must be set upon a proper 
basis. It is not the business of industry, philan- 
thropy, nor of religious establishments to assume 
the burden of maintaining the institutions neces- 
sary for systematic and extensive education of 
the alien. These agencies may set up institu- 
tions if they choose, for the right to private 
educational undertakings is a democratic right; 
but that private forces should be expected to 
set up the only institutions, and the public to 
erect none, is a negation of democratic principle. 
Education for citizenship is a primary function 
of democratic government, and the educational 
process should apply to the adult as well as to 
the child. Our democracy has seen fairly well 
its obligations to the child, but very inadequately 
realized its duty toward the adult. We have 
at present some provision in evening schools, 
inadequate in organization and unavailing for 
the mass who need instruction; private enter- 
prise furnishes additional provision, but all 
present agencies combined do not constitute a 

371 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

satisfactory means of meeting the educational 
needs of the immigrant. 

The education of immigrants has been retarded 
thus far by two factors: first, inadequate pro- 
vision for their education, and, second, the 
irregular attendance of immigrants themselves. 
It must not be forgotten, in improving the means 
that now exist, that these will rest for their final 
success upon the regular attendance of the immi- 
grant. It was early assumed, in providing public 
schools for all children, that all families would 
keep their children at school. This did not 
prove to be the case. Whether a similar problem 
of irregular attendance will appear in the case of 
the adult immigrants when adequate means of 
schooling are provided, cannot now be predicted 
or known, but the immediate duty of the hour 
is to provide means that are adequate, and deal 
with the question of attendance as it arises. 

ADMINISTRATIVE UNITY 

We need at the present moment uniform legis- 
lation in the states and in the nation, and more 
adequate funds. The education of the adult 
alien should receive the same careful considera- 
tion, with respect to provisions and support, 
that is now given to the education of the minor. 
The provisions must differ materially from those 
devised for children, but the principle of pub- 
lic support should be the same. We find, in 
point of practical procedure, that the public 
schools of the particular communities in which 

372 



SUMMARY 

aliens live are the agencies best fitted to assume 
the new task. Communities now make provision 
practically for the education of minors only and 
the funds which they are permitted to use are 
adequate only for this purpose. Our public 
schools can assume the added function if given 
additional funds and requisite authority. If 
for no other purpose than to prevent needless 
expense and the setting up of unnecessary organi- 
zations, we should select the public-school systems 
of the country as the proper agencies for the 
schooling of the immigrant. What the nature 
of the new laws should be, and what the added 
funds with which to undertake larger programs, 
have been discussed in preceding chapters. 
Laws and funds come easily enough when the 
public appreciates the principles at issue and the 
obligations involved. The reason why we still 
lack the laws and the funds is because the public 
has not seen its duty in this new situation. 

Our present educational technique will require 
many adjustments as to both outlook and method 
before this problem can be successfully solved. 
Our public-school systems have made many ad- 
justments of late years, and have shown compe- 
tency in performance when given the means with 
which to work. In Chapter II is presented a 
suggestive program for a systematic and effective 
course of action. The proposed plan of educa- 
tional organization is based upon the assumption 
that the public obligation in the education of the 
immigrant is tripartite. The alien whom we 
would invite to join our citizenship lives in a 

373 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

community and in a state, and is to be a citizen 
of the nation; each of these political units has a 
stake in the prospective citizen, each is inter- 
ested in the product of his education, each is 
benefited by a happy outcome of the undertaking 
and endangered by an unfortunate issue. 

In incorporating a new function into our pub- 
lic-school system, we should naturally adopt such 
a form of organization as new conditions and a 
growing experience make advisable. National 
co-operation and financial assistance to communi- 
ties for educational purposes is an accepted pro- 
cedure in practically all progressive countries of 
the world. The form of organization proposed 
by our plan is by no means original, and is now 
in use in our own national program for industrial 
and agricultural education and being vigorously 
urged as the proper form of organization for the 
general public-school systems of our country. 

Attention has been called in this volume to 
the growing interest of many states and com- 
munities in the relation which should be estab- 
lished and maintained between private education 
and the state. It has been pointed out that the 
problem is by no means simple, nor the proper 
procedure wholly obvious. Customs and insti- 
tutions have grown up with the conditions of 
toleration and tacit approval, and present dis- 
satisfactions in the situation are difficult to 
remedy because of the delay in dealing with the 
causes. Two important developments have pre- 
cipitated the present movement, widespread 
throughout the country, to discover acceptable 

37* 



SUMMARY 

principles and practices in relation to private 
education — namely, the war and its many social 
and political consequences, and the marked 
growth of private education. In this volume the 
position is maintained that neither the state nor 
the individual, association or church, may claim 
exclusive rights in the education of the child. 
The right of private education has always been 
admitted in our democracy and must now be 
reaffirmed; but in the exercise of the right of 
private education the individual, association, or 
church must recognize the right of the state to 
make such demands as are bound up with the 
maintenance of an efficient citizenship. The state 
in exercising its right must be reasonable and 
sympathetic, particularly with respect to religious 
convictions. The main reasonable demands of 
the state are that standards relating to teach- 
ing, subject matter, and housing in private 
schools be as high as those of the public schools ; 
that the required subjects of instruction of the 
public schools be made obligatory upon private 
schools; and that the English language be made, 
without equivocation or evasion, the medium 
of instruction and a subject of study in such 
schools, at least during the period of compulsory 
attendance. 

The position taken with regard to the public 
control of factory classes is based not so much 
upon right as upon expediency. Business cor- 
porations deserve commendation for their efforts 
toward f urnishing instruction for employees, espe- 
cially those corporations which have done so 

375 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

with the ultimate aim of fostering good citizen- 
ship. It is inexpedient that business corporations 
should continue in what is primarily a public 
function. We do not expect, nor would we ap- 
prove, that employing corporations furnish and 
maintain instruction for children of employees, 
though the taxes of the corporation often furnish 
indirectly the funds for the schools of the com- 
munity which the children attend. Even if we 
assume that in general the corporation school for 
immigrants aims primarily to give education for 
citizenship, nevertheless, when the choice is be- 
tween the two agencies, the corporation and the 
public school, the latter is the institution upon 
which the task should be imposed. However, 
there is no particular controversy upon this 
matter. Corporations are not attempting to 
maintain educational facilities for the education 
of immigrants as a corporate right, but are doing 
it as a practical necessity because the public 
has not performed its duty. We may approve 
the growing use of the plan under which the cor- 
poration joins with public authorities in furnish- 
ing educational opportunities, with the public 
controlling the policies involved. 

TEACHERS AND METHODS 

Not only do we need to consider principles and 
organization when setting up a fundamental 
and comprehensive program for the education 
of the immigrant, but we must study and define 
the methods to be used. The chapter on 
Methods of Teaching English has, it is hoped, 



SUMMARY 

presented sufficient evidence to indicate the 
importance of a proper methodology. The ed- 
ucation of the child presents many difficulties; 
that of training the adult presents no fewer. 
We select, train, and supervise the teachers of 
children; we cannot avoid doing the same with 
teachers of adults. It has been erroneously 
assumed that the instruction of the immigrant 
in a new language and citizenship is a compara- 
tively simple matter, quite unlike other kinds 
of instruction, as the teaching of the child or the 
native-born youth. Philanthropic, industrial, 
and even governmental agencies have let the 
impression go broadcast that the teaching of 
adult immigrants can be satisfactorily under- 
taken by comparatively untrained persons, such 
as college students with a desire to serve, foremen 
of plants interested in industrial efficiency, and 
casual individuals with benevolent inclinations. 
There is no royal road to learning, and we are 
deceiving ourselves if we are led to believe that 
by some accident the education of the immigrant 
is an exception to the world-old axiom. During 
the war we were forced to adopt many hasty 
and makeshift programs, one of them attempt- 
ing to provide superficial instruction for non- 
English-speaking aliens on a large scale and for 
immediate results; but we shall make a mistake 
if we are persuaded that such programs are 
competent to serve for the larger results which 
education for citizenship implies. 

The schooling of the immigrant means provid- 
ing trained teachers, using competent methods. 

25 377 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

The method does not make the teacher; the 
teacher makes the method. It is hoped that 
this volume has presented sufficient evidence 
to show the unwary or the inexperienced the 
fatuity of assuming that a particular text will 
meet the problem of instruction for the immi- 
grant, and that by the dissemination of the magic 
book the problem of teaching will be solved. 
A good text has relevancy to a successful pro- 
gram, but is of infinitely less importance than the 
teacher, and of distinctly less importance than a 
proper methodology. Any methodology which 
is not greater than a single text stands indicted 
by that fact. A proper method may employ 
various texts, but is in no way limited by any 
of them. 

We have recommended the use of the direct 
method and the analytic process of teaching 
language as opposed to indirect methods, and 
have commended the principles of Francis 
Gouin, who may be considered the notable 
exponent of a new and valuable principle in 
this field. The warning has been given that the 
principles of Gouin are not self-operating, and 
are effective only in the hands of trained disciples. 
Many mistakes are being made by teachers who 
think they are applying the methodology of 
Gouin; many systems are in use that bear 
resemblance to but do not represent the sub- 
stance of what Gouin taught. This great genius 
in his writings gives no encouragement to the 
popular belief that untrained individuals can 
apply his methods successfully. And not even 

378 



SUMMARY 

Gouin is to be followed slavishly. The trained 
teacher will improvise from her own thinking 
and experience, and will use devices from other 
masters who have laid down principles for the 
teaching of foreign languages. 

These observations naturally enforce the con- 
clusions as to the importance of teacher training. 
In the discussion of this topic a suggestive pro- 
gram has been outlined. 1 In the stimulation 
which has come since 1915 to the movement for 
the education of non-English-speaking immi- 
grants, many untrained workers, connected with 
both public and private agencies, have been 
called on to render service. Both the willingness 
to serve and the service rendered are commend- 
able. But we need trained service in this in- 
stance as well as in all other educational enter- 
prises; we cannot hope to avoid the expense and 
the trouble of training teachers if we are to attain 
satisfactory standards. 

The part-time workers now teaching in our 
evening schools have no opportunity to specialize 
in a field which requires specialization for efficient 
results. By combining in one organization the 
various kinds of day and evening classes now 
maintained for the instruction of immigrants, 
we shall be able to create a new institution, 
maintaining a corps of teachers devoting full 
time to this important educational work. We 
shall be able to do this not only adequately, but 
economically. Let us cease decrying the fail- 
ure of our present agencies, which are limited 

1 Chap. viii. 

379 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

by the very conditions which we have imposed, 
and build up an institution which has the poten- 
tiality and promise of success. We are spending 
an infinitesimal amount to-day for unsatisfactory 
results. With even a small expenditure wisely 
administered we can obtain substantial improve- 
ment; with larger amounts we shall be able to 
approximate in the education of the immigrant 
what we are actually doing for the children in 
our public schools. 

We have attempted to describe concretely an 
appropriate institution for the effective instruc- 
tion of the immigrant. Our school systems 
at present maintain kindergartens, elementary 
schools, and junior and senior high schools, all 
these having particular and suitable educational 
purposes; they are designed, however, for the 
education of minors of varying degrees of 
maturity. Our present evening schools, found 
in less than half the communities where there 
are considerable numbers of immigrants, are not 
suitable institutions for the proper instruction 
of adult immigrants. If we are serious in our 
determination to provide a more suitable instru- 
ment, we need to adopt an institution like the day 
school for immigrants, described in Chapter III. 

In the growing relations between community 
school systems and state and national adminis- 
trative agencies, the present confusion of au- 
thority, particularly as this pertains to national 
bureaus, should be eliminated. Matters of edu- 
cation should be specifically assigned to a dis- 
tinctively educational department. The at- 



SUMMARY 

tempts of the Bureau of Naturalization to domi- 
nate the educational phases of preparation for 
citizenship should be abandoned; if there exists 
a law to-day placing the responsibility of educa- 
tional direction on this bureau, this law should 
be amended The school systems now deal with 
the Bureau of Education very specifically with 
respect to special types of work, such as indus- 
trial education, home economics, and agricul- 
tural education. They deal with the bureau in 
a more casual way with respect to matters per- 
taining to general education. To what extent 
our school systems are now co-operating with the 
Bureau of Education with respect to policies 
affecting the schooling of the immigrant has been 
described in Chapter II. 

There is a splendid opportunity for co-opera- 
tion, instead of competition, between the two 
bureaus in question. Let the educational bureau 
be given sole authority in the field wherein it is 
recognized and for which it is equipped — namely, 
educational technique. Let the naturalization 
bureau concentrate in its own appropriate sphere 
— namely, the matters relating directly to the 
naturalization process after the work of educa- 
tion has been accomplished. 

In Chapter VI is presented evidence on better 
authority than that of opinion, to the following 
effect: Evening-school classes are continually 
changing in personnel; pupils are constantly 
entering and dropping out; for example, within 
a test period of one month in New York, and 
during a lesser interval in Boston, 40 per cent 

381 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

of the pupils present for the first test were not 
present for the second, while of those on hand 
for the second test 20 per cent were new stu- 
dents. Our present grading is entirely inade- 
quate, since classes when accurately measured 
as to abilities are in effect ungraded classes; 
with respect to ability in spelling, as an illustra- 
tion we find that evening-school pupils are not 
above third-grade standard; the instruction they 
receive, consequently, goes largely over their 
heads. Present methods of instruction, drawn 
largely from day-school procedure, are unsuited 
for work with adults. The defections from these 
classes fall largely in the higher and lower ability 
groups — those pupils who are least benefited by 
the work offered. 

Chapter VII suggests a more effective method 
of instruction than those now obtaining, a pro- 
cedure denominated as a true service basis. The 
most important element in the new order would 
be recognition of the purpose of all educational 
work for immigrants as that of assisting them 
to participate in American life, and helping them 
to make increasing use of American institutions. 
The day school for immigrants would be looked 
upon as the city's educational service station, 
to which any immigrant might go to obtain free 
information, training, or assistance of any kind 
of which he stood in need. 

LEGISLATION BECOMING ADEQUATE 

The evidence presented in Chapter IX points 
with certainty to a general trend in legislation 



SUMMARY 

toward measures aiming for better citizenship. 
This is seen in the extension of compulsory edu- 
cation in all states for all children, with extension 
of the upper age limits; in the provisions for 
specific instruction in the duties of citizenship in 
a growing number of states; in the outward 
expression of love of country in the display of 
the flag. There are now less than a dozen states 
which make no legal provision for the display 
of the United States flag on or near school build- 
ings, and recent enactments would seem to indi- 
cate that all states will soon require such display. 
The enactments of 1918-19 reflect an aroused 
sentiment crystallized by legislatures in laws re- 
quiring that English shall be the basic language 
in all elementary schools. It is now apparent 
from the trend of recent legislation that there 
can henceforth be no question that it is the will 
of the people that no child in America shall grow 
into citizenship without mastering the language 
of America. The extension of the compulsory- 
school-attendance age for illiterate minors (from 
sixteen to twenty-one years) seems assured in 
many states. To the laws of Massachusetts and 
New York already maintaining such limits there 
was added in 1919 similar legislation in New 
Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, and South 
Dakota. One state, Utah, has extended the 
period of compulsory attendance to the age of 
forty-five. While much remains to be done by 
most of the states, a general survey of recent 
legislation affecting immigrant education cannot 
but produce a hopeful impression. If it is not al- 

383 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

ways adequate, there is everywhere an awakened 
public concern that will shortly bring satisfactory 
results. 

RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL 

Measures for the improvement of our citizen- 
ship are not to be restricted to one group, like 
that of the alien, but should apply to the whole 
body of citizens. The group considered in this 
volume, consequently, is only one, and a small 
one, in the great body affected. This group 
needs attention, and this volume has attempted 
to set forth the main constructive features of an 
adequate program of education so far as it is 
concerned. But we shall fail to deal effectively 
with the alien if we look upon him as a particular 
source of danger and confine our attempts for 
improving citizenship only to his education and 
naturalization; the education and naturalization 
of the immigrant are simply one part of an im- 
mense program, a program that must apply to 
100 per cent of our citizenship. 

The schooling of the immigrant is a more 
specific phase of the general problem of an im- 
proved citizenship, and, consequently, less diffi- 
cult to treat than the larger situation. We may 
predict that the present interest in particular 
phases will soon be transformed into a perception 
of the larger problem itself. We went to war 
to make the world safe for democracy, and in 
peace we find that our own democracy is none 
too safe. All our forces, resources, and institu- 
tions are called upon for new efforts, new adjust- 

384 



SUMMARY 

ments, new interpretations. Particularly the 
schools, the home, religious bodies, government 
agencies, business, and labor seem called upon 
for efforts and assistance never before equaled. 
In a marked manner society has appealed to the 
school to take a foremost part in the struggle 
before us. Whatever may be the potency of 
education to meet social crises, it will not be 
sufficient in the weakness of other institutions. 
The problem is for no single institution, but for 
all combined — the school, the home, the church, 
capital and labor — and those to be uplifted will 
not be found in any single group. All of us who 
are the people for whom and by whom govern- 
ment is maintained have been at fault, all of us 
must assume the responsibility, and all of us 
must make the new adjustment. 



APPENDIX 

Massachusetts Laws Requiring Evening Schools 

and Compulsory Attendance for Minors 

Illiterate in English 

Revised Laws, Chapter 42, Section 11, amended by 
Acts of 1914, Chapter 590 
Public Evening Schools. — Any town may, and 
every city or town in which there are issued during the 
year from September 1st to August 31st certificates 
authorizing the employment of twenty or more persons 
[sixteen to twenty -one years of age] who do not possess 
the educational qualifications enumerated in section 
one of chapter forty-four of the Revised Laws, as 
amended, shall maintain during the following school 
year an evening school or schools for the instruction 
of persons over fourteen years of age in orthography, 
reading, writing, the English language and grammar, 
geography, arithmetic, industrial drawing, both free 
hand and mechanical, the history of the United States, 
physiology and hygiene, and good behavior. Such 
other subjects may be taught in such schools as the 
school committee considers expedient. 



Acts of 1913, Chapter 467, amended by General Acts 
of 1916, Chapter 82 

School Attendance and Employment of Illiter- 
ate Minors 
Section 1. — Every illiterate minor between sixteen 
and twenty-one years of age except married women 
387 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

shall attend some public evening school in the city 
or town in which he resides for the whole time during 
which the public evening schools are in session: pro- 
vided, that such city or town maintains a public eve- 
ning school. Attendance at a public day school, or at 
a private school approved for the purpose by the 
school committee, shall exempt such minor from at- 
tending a public evening school. This act shall not 
affect any existing laws regarding the compulsory 
school attendance of illiterate minors or their employ- 
ment, but shall be in addition to such laws. 

Section 2. — An illiterate minor who willfully vio- 
lates any provision of this act shall be punished by 
a fine of not less than five dollars. 

Section 3. — Every person having under his control an 
illiterate minor between sixteen and twenty-one years 
of age shall cause him to attend a public evening 
school as hereby required; and if such person fails 
for six sessions within a period of one month to cause 
the minor so to attend school, unless the minor's 
physical or mental condition is such as to render his 
attendance at school harmful or impracticable, such 
person shall, upon complaint by a truant officer, and 
conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more 
than twenty dollars. 

Section It. — Whoever induces or attempts to induce 
such minor to absent himself unlawfully from school, 
or employs such a minor except as is provided by 
law, or harbors such a minor who, while school is in 
session, is absent unlawfully therefrom, shall be pun- 
ished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars. 



APPENDIX 

Acts of 1909, Chapter 514, Section 66, amended 

by Acts of 1913, Chapter 779, Section 23, and 

by General Acts of 1916, Chapter 95, 

Section 3 

Educational Certificates. — No child who is over 
sixteen and under twenty-one years of age shall be 
employed in a factory, workshop, manufacturing, 
mechanical or mercantile establishment, except as 
provided for pupils in co-operative courses, approved 
as such by the board of education, and conducted 
in public schools, unless his employer procures and 
keeps on file an educational certificate showing the 
age of the child and his ability or inability to read 
and write as hereinafter provided. Such certificates 
shall be issued by the person authorized by this act 
to issue employment certificates. 

The person authorized to issue such educational cer- 
tificates shall, so far as is practicable, require the proof 
of age stated in section fifty-eight. 1 He shall examine 
the child and certify whether or not he possesses the 
educational qualifications [ 2 ] enumerated in section 
one of chapter forty-four of the Revised Laws, as 
amended. Every such certificate shall be signed in 
the presence of the person issuing the same by the 
child in whose name it is issued. 

Every , employer of such children shall keep their 
educational certificates accessible to any officer au- 
thorized to enforce the provisions of this act and shall 
return said certificates to the office from which they 
were issued within two days after the date of the 
termination of the employment of said children. If 
the educational certificate of any child who is over 
sixteen and under twenty-one years of age fails to show 

1 Acts of 1909, chapter 514, section 58. 

2 Ability to read, write, and spell in the English language, as is 
required for the completion of the sixth grade. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 

that said child possesses the educational qualifications 
enumerated in section one of chapter forty-four of 
the Revised Laws, as amended, then no person shall 
employ such child while a public evening school is 
maintained in the city or town in which tjie child 
resides, unless such child is a regular attendant at 
such evening school or at a day school, and presents 
to his employer each week a school record of such 
attendance. When such record shows unexcused ab- 
sences, such attendance shall be deemed to be irregu- 
lar and insufficient. The person authorized to issue 
educational certificates, or teachers acting under his 
authority, may, however, excuse justifiable absence. 
Whoever employs a child in violation of the provisions 
of this section shall forfeit not more than one hundred 
dollars for each offense, to the use of the evening 
schools of such city or town. A parent, guardian or 
custodian who permits a child to be employed in 
violation of the provisions of this section shall forfeit 
not more than twenty dollars, to the use of the even- 
ing schools of such city or town. 



APPENDIX 



TABLE IX 

Standard Scores or Average Results by Grades in Tests of 
Immigrant Classes in New York and Boston 





Grade 


Silent 
Reading 


Spell- 
ing 


Com- 
position 


Oral 
Reading 


City 


•a 
1 

a 

3 
2 


■g 


1 

Is 

si 


1 

1 


8 
U 

a> g 
SB 

< 


I 

1 

53 


8 
O 


3 

a 


■a -a 

O (LI 




■s 

1 

to 

i 


New York 


First-year. .. 
Second-year. 
Third-year . . 
Fourth-year. 


25 
l89 
147 

23 


5.5 
7.6 
9.3 
9.7 


63 

73 

85 
81 


26 
182 
150 

19 


16 
3i 

52 
72 


25 

182 
150 
19 


37 
59 

2 9 
84 


10 
165 

16 


185 
148 
108 

86 


36.0 
26.0 
22.0 
7.8 


Boston 


Beginners. . . 
Intermediate 
Advanced . . . 

Mixed 

Ungraded . . . 


126 
143 
I29 

54 
17 


1:1 

6.5 


62 
70 
81 
79 
69 


93 
114 
130 
50 
17 


10 

20 
34 
28 
48 


93 
114 
130 
50 
17 


441 

45 

63 

5i 

70 




























, . 










,. 



For this group the average was 37-8, if two classes making extremely high 
scores are omitted. 
2 No tests given. 



S91 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



TABLE X 

Comparison of Class Scores with Standard Scores and 
Grade Limits 



New York 


Boston 




Ques- 


Average Per Cent 




Ques- 


Average Per Cent 




An- 


of Accuracy 




An- 


of Accuracy 




swered 










swered 








BO 




be 


e 
.0 

% 


60 




M 


c 

.2 

% 




c- 2 


tSTJ 


S 






^1 


c"3 


:= 


S 




g3 




ri. 








ja s 


s 




«j« 


55 oS 


m 


O 




wOS 


W.Zi 


CO 


O 












Intermedi- 










2d -year 










ate stand- 










standards . . . 


7.6 


73 


31 


59 


ards 


6.7 


70 


20 


45 












Interme- 










2d-year limits 


6.5-8.5 


68-79 


24-42 


48-64 


diate limits 


5. 7-7- 1 


66-76 


15-27 


40-54 


Class A 


4-5 


64 


11 


66 


Class A . . . 


1.0 


44 


5 




" B 


6.0 


73 


19 


I 


B... 


5.0 


58 


15 


27 


" C 


7.0 


6a 


23 


C... 


5.5 


73 


13 


43 


" D 


7-0 


58 


35 


" D.. 


5.5 


66 


14 


55 


"■ E 


7-3 


81 


32 


81 


" E... 


6.0 


68 


18 


30 


" F 


7.6 


68 


27 


60 


" F... 


6.5 


84 


12 




" G 


o.o 


71 


54 


78 


" G... 


7.0 


77 


18 


43 


" H 


9.0 


88 


40 


63 


" H... 


7.6 


82 


41 


68 


" / 


9-7 


76 


35 


$8 


" I ... 


8.0 


84 


38 


35 


" J 


13-0 


91 


34 


67 


" J ... 


8.0 


84 


27 


45 


3d-year 










Advanced 










standards . . . 


9-3 


85 


52 


69 


standards.. 


7-5 


81 


34 
40 


63 


Class K.... 


5.2 


89 


45 


7S 


Class K... 


4.0 


85 


86 




• L.... 


7-8 


«4 


54 


67 


" L... 


5-5 


72 


18 


74 




' M.... 


8.0 


91 


33 


% 


" M... 


6.5 


90 


46 


60 




• N.... 


9.0 


8o 


39 


" N... 


6.5 


76 


16 


42 




' 0.... 


95 


8i 


45 


61 


" O... 


6.7 


83 


3« 


70 




• P.... 


10. 


84 


57 


68 


" P... 


7-3 


74 


39 


63 




' Q.... 


10. I 


85 


60 


81 


" Q... 


7-5 


88 


39 


40 


" R. . . , 


10.7 


87 


65 


73 


" R... 


7-7 


74 


27 


58 












S... 


8.0 


81 


29 


62 












T... 


10. 


88 


44 


72 



APPENDIX 



TABLE XI 

Range of Individual Ability in Selected Classes Scoring 
Within Grade Limits 





Test 


New York Second- 
Year Class F 


Boston Intermediate- 
Year Class G 


Subject 


Per Cent of Class 

Membership 


Per Cent of Class 
Membership 




Below 
Grade 
Limits 


Within 
Grade 
Limits 


Above 
Grade 
Limits 


Below 
Grade 
Limits 


Within 
Grade 
Limits 


Above 
Grade 
Limits 






27 
35 

44 

46 

35 

32 


42 
4 

20 

12 

3 £ 
18 


l\ 

36 

42 

29 



8 
25 

69 

46 

.. 1 


59 
25 

O 

83 




Spelling 

Composition. 
Oral reading. 


Accuracy 

Accuracy..... 
Accuracy 


50 
31 
31 


Mistakes 






New York Third- 
Year Class P 


Boston Advanced- 
Year Class P 






24 
24 

33 

46 

22 
33 


32 
20 

29 

33 

22 

11 


44 
56 

38 

21 

s £ 
56 


66 
43 

46 

33 


17 

14 


23 




Spelling 

Composition. 


Accuracy 

Accuracy 

Accuracy 


43 
54 
39 




Mistakes 





1 No oral reading 

26 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



TABLE XII 

Attendance by Grades and Classes New York Evening 
Schools 





Class 


Number of Pupils Present for 


Grade 


ist Test 


Both 


ist Test 


2d Test 






Only 


Tests 


Total 


Only 


First-year 


A 


is 


10 


25 


4 




Per Cent 


60 


40 


100 


16 




B 


7 


11 


18 


6 




C 


10 


6 


16 


4 




D 


S 


10 


IS 


8 




E 


13 


IS 


28 


10 


Second-year 


F 
G 


3 


12 


14 
20 


3 

4 




H 


10 


IS 


25 


3 




I 


8 


8 


16 


7 




J 


8 


14 


22 


6 




K 


3 


12 


IS 


2 




Total. . . 


75 


"4 


I89 


53 




Per Cent 


40 


60 


100 


28 




L 


8 


16 


24 


4 




M 


8 


7 


IS 


S 




N 


10 


8 


18 


3 




O 


6 


8 


10 

18 


2 


Third-year 


P 

Q 


7 
8 


9 
10 


S 
8 




R 


IS 


10 


25 


4 




S 


8 


9 


17 


3 




Total... 


70 


77 


147 


34 




Per Cent 


48 


52 


100 


23 


Fourth-year 


T 


9 


14 


23 


3 




Per Cent 


39 


61 


100 


13 






169 


215 


384 


94 




Per Cent 


44 


56 


100 


34 





APPENDIX 



TABLE XIIa 

Attendance by Grades and Classes, Boston Evening Schools 





< 


Number Pupils 
Present 


Grade 


O 


Number Pupils 
Present 


Grade 


SO 




#•3 

si 




20 


C 

P3H 


m O 

2h 


•si 


Beginners 


A 

B 
C 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
I 


7 
3 

10 

6 
13 

4 
4 
6 
7 


4 

12 

8 
3 
4 
9 
8 
8 

10 


ii 
IS 
18 
9 
17 
13 

14 
17 


I 
I 
4 




o 




Advanced 


T 
U 
V 

w 

X 
Y 
Z 
a 
b 


8 
S 

6 

2 
3 
3 
6 
9 
8 


II 

6 
7 
10 

4 
10 
8 
4 
10 


10 
16 

7 
13 

12 
7 
13 

14 
13 

18 


3 

4 



6 

1 
2 

3 


Total 


6o 


66 


126 


9 


Total 


Si 


78 


129 


24 




48 


52 


100 


7 




-I'-' 


61 


100 


19 










J 

K 
L 
M 
N 

P 
Q 
R 
S 


10 

7 

10 
2 
2 

7 
3 

4 

2 


9 
5 
7 
9 
9 
8 
13 
8 
9 


19 

12 

17 
ii 
II 
S 

16 

12 
20 
10 


2 
2 
3 

I 


S 

5 


Mixed 


d 
e 
f 
g 


3 
4 
3 
8 


7 

5 

12 
12 


10 
9 

15 

20 


1 
3 
3 

4 






IS 


30 


54 


II 












33 


67 


100 


20 










Ungraded 


h 
i 


5 
I 


4 

7 


9 
8 


4 
2 




58 


85 


143 


23 




6 


II 

^7 


17 
100 


6 










41 


59 


100 


16 




35 


35 








Total for city 


193 


276 


469 


73 




41 


59 


100 


16 






Total, New York and Bosto 




36a 


491 


853 


T67 








42 


5S 


100 









395 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



TABLE XIII 

Scores in First Test of Those Who Left and Those Who 
Stated 





Test 


N 


EW Yorx 


Boston 


Subject 


Grade 


Scores of 
Those Who 


Grade 


Scores of 
Those Who 




Left 


Stayed 


Left 


Stayed 


Silent reading. . 


Rate 


First... 
Second. 
Third . . 


43 
6.7 
7.5 


7-7 

8 8 :6 4 


Beginners 

Intermediate. . . 
Advanced 


4.0 
6.4 
6.5 


4-5 
6.0 




Accuracy. 


First... 
Second . 
Third.. 


45 
76 
83 


51 

73 
88 


Beginners 

Intermediate. . . 
Advanced 


48 
69 
80 


54 
73 
82 


Spelling 




First... 
Second . 
Third . . 


16 

32 

48 


14 
30 


Beginners 

Intermediate.... 
Advanced 


10 
17 
33 


9 
22 
35 






Composition. . . 


Accuracy. 


First... 
Second . 
Third.. 


22 
58 
63 


38 
5o 
6S 


Beginners 

Intermediate. . . 
Advanced 


48 

g 


42 
53 
57 


Oral reading. . . 


Time 


First... 
Second. 
Third . . 


197 
131 
IOO 


173 
149 

121 










Mistakes . 


First.. . 
Second . 
Third . . 


39 

w 


33 

23 
24 









TABLE XIV 

Spelling Ability of Pupils Who Left and Pupils Who Stated 





Grade 


Type 
of Pupil 


Is 


Number 
Pupils 


OF 
N 


Fer Cent of 
Pupils in 


City 


3 


: 3_ 
■oS| 

is 


li 


Is 




if 

2a 




Beginners. . . . 


Stayed . . . 
Left 

Total... 


49 
51 


14 


29 
23 


10 
14 

24 


42 
58 


56 

44 


42 

58 




100 


24 


52 








Boston 


Intermediate 


Stayed... 
Left 

Total... 


59 
41 


12 
11 


30 

20 


17 
10 


52 
48 


60 
40 


63 
37 




100 


23 


50 


27 








Advanced 


Stayed . . . 
Left 

Total... 


57 
29 


13 
9.5 


28 

14-5 


16 
5 


58 

42 


66 

34 


76 

24 




86 


22.5 


42. 5 


21 








New York 


Third-year. . . 


Stayed . . . 
Left 

Total... 


57 
43 


15 
10 


27 
25 


IS 
8 


60 

40 


52 
48 


~6S~ 
35 




100 


25 I 52 


23 









APPENDIX 















I 

H 

Q 






O 

3 
a 

i: 

5' 








CO 

1 

3" 












I 


CO 

c 

o 
H 


g 

p 


-9 
i 


> 

<< 


c 
3 
>< 


> 

c 


ft) 

p 




re 

o 

i 


;- 


j 


s° 

TO O 

; o 


* 
3 



2! 

i 

1 


re £ 

3 5' 

o o. 

■rTs 

o re 

^S 
P o 
pre 


I 


3 

rr 
1. 


►HO 

3 3' 
on 

TO O 

g o 

pre 


| 


2 

3 

T 

! 

i 


re ° 

o 5' 
3 3' 

O pi. 

X) o 

< 

25 

? <3 







3 s 

n 5' 

S 5' 
3'h 

s 

p 


j 


- 

3 

1 


CO 
1 

O 

1 
g 

o 


oft o 


M fe3 


gSj»„ 


OOJ 


woo 


ON- • H 
ONM^l O 


<< 


% 

►0 

c 
r 


b c>i. 


H flg 

o <>ft h 


OO^S 


O>0 H 


OW to 


«??a 


re 


Oft GJ 


COO H O 


o> 

CKCO 


OW 


ft CO 


aSSs 


•<! 


£££ 


~a*o 


-Jft Oft 


O O Oft 


o-- • 


0>M^* 


f 






O M 

COUM-J 


ft 10 


£$£t 


H?£g 


3 re 


! 

2 

T) 

2 
r 

0) 


. . o- 


ftOftft 


&"£ 


&Zh£ 




ft~JftvO 


uft 


oirb 


o o> 




WvO 


&IZ* 


UC? 


OJft H 0> 


g 


O-tn 


- 


5 


o b> 


o 


o 


ft 


« 




O M 


Oi 


a 


I? 

p. 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



TABLE XVI 

Variation in Amount of Progress in Classes of Same Grade 



New York 


Boston 




Spelling 


Composition 




Spelling 


Composition 


























































O 


3-3 




O 


= ■ 













> 



2- 




f! 


■a 


s^ 


V 


■0 „ 







7, «j 




0) 


5. 


fi 






if. 
2 




■- - 


| 









03 


02 


1,(1. 


g 


a 

02 


















Interme- 














2 d - y e a r 














diate stand- 














standard . . 


30 


16.5 


24 


55.7 


3.7 


8 


ard 


22.4 


10.9 


14 


53.0 


1.2 


13 


Class A.... 


10 


28.0 


31 


49 


-1.6 




Class A . . . 


4 


l.S 


2 








" B.... 


17 


4 





5 


21 


4 


6 





" F... 


11 


2 


5 


3 










" C... 


2 2 


5 


8 


7 


49 


2 


7 


5 


" E... 


15 


II 


U 


13 


45 


7 


1 


13 


" £.... 


33 


27 





40 


8o 


s 


I 


26 


'■ D... 


15 


7 


s 


9 


6.3 


-2 


'-• 




" F.... 


34 


iO 





20 


70 


3 





10 


" C... 


IS 


S 


9 


O 


3 2 


2 


8 


4 


" I.... 


34 


9 


9 


16 


65 


-2 


5 




M /... 


20 


7 


s 


9 


42 


13 





22 


" D.... 


30 


to 


o 


16 


56 


2 


4 


5 


" G. . . 


21 


20 





3 7 


47 


17 





32 


" a... 


42 


24 


c 


41 


40 


5 


6 





" B... 


22 







14 


27 


5 


7 


8 


" H.... 


45 





4 


17 


08 


5 


6 


IS 


" H... 


30 


10 





20 


67 


-0 


4 




" /.... 


S3 


12.0 


25 


65 


2 


8 


8 


" I... 


50 


14 





32 


33 


17 


a 


25 


3 d - y e a r 














Advanced 














standard.. 


55 


10.4 


2 3 


68 


6.3 


20 


standard... 


34-8 


22.2 


34 


57-4 


14-7 


34 


Class O.... 


32 


4.0 


6 


46 


20.0 


37 


Class N. . . 


17 


7 I . 1 > 


86 


42 


38.O 


66 


" M.... 


30 








IS 


70 


7 


7 


20 




' L... 


20 


14 


( 


17 


80 


2 





26 


" N.... 


30 


10 





10 


S3 


-4 









' R... 


31 


T2 





17 


60 


12 


a 


30 


" K.... 


S3 


13 


o 


2 8 


60 


IQ 





47 




• K... 


3 2 


14 







60 


-0 







" £::: 


61 





8 


2 5 


82 


-I 


3 






' O... 


3S 


43 





06 


74 


17 





65 


02 


1 





47 


74 


7 


6 


20 




' P... 


VJ 


4 


6 


8 


70 


"7 


6 




" R.... 


62 


17 


c 


45 


77 


2 


1 


9 




' 5... 


40 


21 


c 


IS 


66 


-0 







" P.... 


72 


3 


3 


12 


73 


I 


2 


4 




' M. .. 


45 


-3 





42 


61 


9 


5 


24 


















' Q... 


47 


-2 


c 




i a 


22 





»S 
















" T... 


So 


7.0 


14 









APPENDIX 



TABLE XVII 

Individual Progress in Spelling in New York and Boston 
Standard Classes 



Number of Words Spelled Correctly 



New York 


New York 


Boston Inter- 


Boston 


2d Grade 


3D Grade 


mediate Grade 


Advanced Grade 


H 


H 


g 


£ 


H 


C 


1 


H 


a 


H 


£ 




3 


T3 


O 


3 


"3 


u 


B 


"S 




a 


•0 


J3 

u 


6 


14 


s 


16 


23 


7 


11 


19 


s 


7 


16 


8 


I 


7 


6 


19 


23 


4 


11 


IS 


4 


16 


23 


7 


IS 


19 


4 


17 


21 


4 


6 


10 


4 


3 


7 


4 


18 


21 


3 


12 


16 


4 


1 


s 


4 


14 


IS 


1 


IS 


18 


3 


19 


22 


3 


2 


4 


2 












23 


25 


2 


11 


14 


3 







1 












4 


6 


2 


18 


20 




10 


10 















23 


24 
23 


1 

1 


14 


16 
19 


2 

1 


1 


1 















61 


17 


1 


20 























2 


2 





2 


1 


- 1 



















TABLE XVIII 



Time Devoted to Various Types of Work by Supervised and 
Unsupervised Teachers 



Exercise 


Average Distribution of Time in 
Minutes 




Supervised 


Unsupervised 




15.2 

6.4 
25.4 

IS- 7 

10.5 

4-S 
99-7 


15-7 
3.1 












21.3 
8-S 

4-3 

100. S 












3.88 
10 
195 




3-40 




Number of pupils 


193 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 
TABLE XIX 

Comparison of Supervised and Unsupervised Teachers in 

Stimulating Self-directed Activity Among Pupils in 

Classroom Work 



(Ratings of teachers are average of ratings of 8 observers, 
mum possible rating, 5.0) 



Maxi- 



Supervised 


Unsupervised 


Teacher 


Rating 


Teacher 


Rating 


A 


4-52 
4-4C 
4-43 
4.06 
4.00 
4.00 
3-7S 
3.42 
3.29 
2.92 

4.00 


D 


4. 11 
4.00 
3.70 
3-68 
3.67 
3.63 
3.3S 
3.16 
2.91 
1. 81 


B 


H 


C 


5 


E 


T 


F 


J 


G , 


K 


/ 


M 


L 




Q 


N 


P 


R 


Median 


Median 


3.63 



Median for both groups. 



TABLE XX 
Progress Under Supervised and Unsupervised Teachers 





Score and Comparisons 


Teacher 
Group 




Super- 
vised 


Unsuper- 
vised 


Silent reading 


Rate 




9.0 
3-9 
43 


8.3 


Gain in 2d over ist s 








36 










Accuracy. . 




70.0 

17.6 

59 






Gain in 2d over ist 
Per cent of possible 




10.3 

4i 




gain 








Accuracy. . 


ist score 


46.0 

11. 7 

22 






Gain in 2d over ist 
Per cent of possible 








gain 


19 






Composition . 


Accuracy . . 




64.0 

2.2 

6 




Gain in 2d over 1st 
Per cent of possible 


score 






gain 


17 






Oral reading. 


Time 


ist score 


164.0 

16.6 

10 




Gain in 2d over 1st 


score 


















Mistakes... 




26.0 

6.0 

23 






Gain in 2d over ist 




0.3 


















3.88 
10 
106 




Number of te 
Number of p 










upils 






109 



400 



APPENDIX 



TABLE XXI 



Attendance in Classes Having Supervised and Unsupervised 
Teachers 









Number of Pupils Present for 






1st 


Test 




I8t Test 


2d 


Test 


Teacher Group 


Class 


O 


nly 




Total 


Only 




Num- 


Per 


Num- 


Per 


Num- 


Per 


Num- 


Per 






ber 


Cent 1 


ber 


Cent 1 


ber 


Cent 1 


ber 
3 


Cent 1 




A 


10 


S6 


8 


44 


18 


100 


17 




B 


13 


46 


15 


54 


28 


100 


10 


36 




C 


3 


21 


11 


79 


14 


100 


3 


21 




D 


8 


40 


12 


60 


20 


100 


4 


20 




E 


10 


40 


IS 


60 


25 


100 


3 


12 


Supervised 


F 


6 


43 


8 


57 


14 


100 


2 


14 




G 


7 


44 


9 


56 


16 


100 


5 


3i 




H 


8 


44 


10 


56 


18 


100 


8 


44 




I 


15 


60 


10 


40 


25 


100 


4 


16 




J 


8 


SO 


8 


SO 


16 


100 


7 


44 




Total . 


88 


4S 


106 


55 


194 


100 


49 


25 




K 


9 


39 


14 


61 


23 


100 


3 


13 




L 


15 


60 


10 


4 


25 


100 


4 


16 




M 


7 


1% 


II 


61 


18 


100 


6 


33 




N 


10 


6 


38 


16 


100 


4 


25 







8 


33 


16 


67 


24 


100 


4 


17 


Unsupervised 


P 


8 


S3 


7 


% 


IS 


100 


5 


33 




Q 


5 


33 


10 


IS 




8 


53 




R 


8 


36 


14 


64 


22 


100 


6 


27 




S 


3 




12 


80 


15 


100 


2 


13 




T 


8 


47 


9 


S3 


17 


100 


3 


18 




Total . 


81 


43 


109 


S7 


190 


100 


45 


24 



1 Per cent of total number of pupils who were present for first test. 



401 



SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



TABLE XXII 



Amounts of Time Devoted to Various Types of Work by 
Teachers Using Different Methods 



Average Distribution of Time in Minutes 



Exercise 


Teacher Group 


Group I * 


Group II 2 


Group III ' 




IS- 9 
47 
24.7 
19.7 
15. S 
12. 1 

4-9 


13. S 

S-2 

30.8 
19.7 
20.1 
8.5 

3-9 






47 






23.4 

1.1 








3.8 








97- 5 


101.7 










4.26 
6 

57 


375 
6 
66 






6 




68 







1 Comprising 6 teachers showing the 6 highest ratings in stimulating self-directed 
activity among pupils in classroom work. 

2 Comprising 6 teachers showing the 6 medium ratings in stimulating self-directed 
activity among pupils in classroom work. 

» Comprising 6 teachers showing the 6 lowest ratings in stimulating self-directed 
activity among pupils in classroom work. 



402 



APPENDIX 



TABLE XXIII 



Progress of Pupils in Classes of Teachers Using Different 
Methods 







Score and Comparisons 


Teacher Group 


Exercise 


Group 


Group 
II 


Group 
III 


Silent reading 


Rate 




8.8 
3-9 

44 
44 


8.7 
4.0 
46 
42 


8 


Gain in 2d over ist score. . . . 


2.1 
















Accuracy. . 




80.0 
8.0 
40 
40 


77.0 
8.7 
38 
34 


77-0 
8.0 
35 
35 




Gain in 2d over ist score. . . . 
Per cent of possible gain 






Spelling 


Accuracy. . 




44 
9 
16 

25 


44 
13 
23 
28 


39-0 
13.6 

22 


Gain in 2d over 1st score. . . . 
Per cent of possible gain 








Composition. . 


Accuracy. . 




52. 

4-1 

8 

8 


70.0 

4-4 

15 

IS 


62 


Gain in 2d over ist score. . . . 
Per cent of possible gain 


4-3 








Oral reading. 


Time 




141 .0 

17.8 

13 

16 


147.0 

16.3 

11 

II 


131. 

6.5 

5 


Gain in 2d over ist score. . . . 














Mistakes. . . 


ist score 


23.1 
i.l 

5 
6 


30.5 
95 
31 
31 


19.4 
-0. 1 
-0.4 




Gain in 2d over ist score. . . . 
















4.26 
6 
62 


3-75 
6 
69 


2.91 


Number of te; 
Number of pu 


ichers 








69 







SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT 



TABLE XXIV 

Comparison of Attendance in Classes of Teachers Using 
Different Methods 





Class 


Number of Pupils Present for 


Teacher Group 


ist Test 
Only 


Both Tests 


ist Test 
Total 


2d Test 
Only 




Num- 
ber 


Per 
Cent' 


Num- 
ber 


Per 

Cent 1 


Num- 
ber 


Per 

Cent 


Num- 
ber 

3 

4 
7 
6 
S 

2 


Plt 
Cent' 


Group I 


A 
B 
C 
D 

E 
F 


3 
IS 

8 
7 

I 


21 

6o 
SO 
39 

44 
43 


10 

8 
ii 
9 
8 


79 

40 

SO 

6i 
56 

57 


14 

25 

16 
18 
16 
14 


100 
100 

100 


21 
16 
44 
33 
31 
14 




Total 


46 


45 


57 


55 


103 


100 


27 


26 


Group II 


G 
H 

I 
J 
K 
L 


8 
8 
13 

10 

8 
8 


44 
53 

£ 

33 

40 


10 

7 
IS 

6 
16 

12 


56 
47 
54 
38 
67 
6o 


18 

15 
28 
16 

24 
20 


100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 


8 

5 
10 

4 
4 
4 


45 
33 
36 

25 
17 
20 




Total 


55 


45 


66 


55 


121 


100 


35 


29 


Group III 


M 
N 

P 

Q R 


8 

10 

8 
10 
3 
S 


47 
56 
36 
40 

20 

33 


9 
8 
14 
IS 

12 
10 


S3 

n 

6o 
8o 

67 


17 
18 

22 

25 

15 


100 
100 

100 
100 


3 
3 

6 
3 
2 

8 


18 

17 

27 
12 

13 
53 




Total 


44 


39 


68 


6! 


112 


100 


25 


2? 



Per cent of total number of pupils enrolled who were present for first test. 



404 



APPENDIX 



TABLE XXV 

Distribution op Spelling Errors in Composition Test for 
Each Set of Atres Spelling Scale 



New York 


Boston 










1 






Errors 


Words 




Errors 


Words 








Set 








Num- 


Per 


Num- 


Per 


Num- 


Per 


Num- 


Per 




ber 


Cent 


ber 


Cent 




ber 


Cent 


ber 


Cent 


A 


6 


0.4 


2 


0.7 


A 


11 


0.6 


2 


0.6 


B 


12 





7 


6 4 




.0 


B 


21 




.0 


4 




.0 


C 


iS 


1 





2 





C 


48 


2 


.0 


7 


2 





D 


29 


2 


5 


2 





D 


31 


2 





6 


2 





E 


117 


7 





12 


4 





E 


I3S 


7 





16 


4 





F 


95 


6 





13 


4 





F 


131 


7 





16 


4 





G 


114 


7 





14 


4 





G 


162 


8 





20 


6 





H 


161 


10 





31 


10 





H 


205 


10 





30 


8 





I 


138 


8 





20 


6 





I 


159 


8 





29 


8 





J 


234 


X 6 4 





33 


10 





J 


304 


IS 





35 


10 





K 


105 





34 


11 





K 


160 


8 





41 


12 





L 


139 


8 





38 


12 





L 


204 


10 





37 


10 





M 


100 


6 





19 


6 





M 


99 


S 





24 


7 





N 


126 


7 





25 


8 





N 


113 


6 





25 


7 





O 


61 


4 





16 


S 








48 


2 





14 


4 





P 


36 


2 





13 


4 





P 


46 


2 





16 


S 





Q n 


21 


1 





9 


3 





Q 


18 


I 





12 


3 





17 









2 





R 


47 


2 





8 







s 


98 


6 





7 


2 





S 


38 


2 





8 


2 





T 


11 





b 


4 


I 





T 


7 





3 


4 


1 





U 


8 





4 


4 


I 





U 


3 







2 





6 


V 


1 








1 





^ 


V 


3 


0. 


T 


1 





2 


w 


1 





b 


1 





3 


w 





0. 








0. 





X 




















X 














0. 





Y 


1 





6 


1 





3 


Y 





0. 








0. 





z 




















z 














0. 





Total . 


1,649 


99.9 


320 


99-6 


Total. 


1.993 


99.1 


357 


99.4 






New York 


Boston 


Number of papers 




722 


Total number of errors tabulated 




2,482 


2,869 






663 




Total number of errors in words of Ayres scale 




1,649 


1,993 


Per cent of total number of errors. 
Different words misspelled found in 






66.4 
320 




Ayres scale 




357 


Per cent of different words misspelled found in 


Ayres 






scale 





























405 



1 s * 


OSft, 




JU33 J3J 


^ 




0.0 ">o O l~«? . i 




j3quin N 


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61-8161 


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61-8161 


% 


W3S5-B"8'88' *.■"••" 


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8l-£l6l 




nn ^ £<2 ^ ~ -° 2 » 2 "^ ^ M * ° "" 


n .«h 


t ieiox 


s 


§• £ -0 " - - ^ ~ 2 « t ~° M " n " °° 


•»r1=o - 


1 

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a. 

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JU33 J3d 




Mill 1 1 1 1 1 1 II II 




j^qmnjvi 


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T 1 1 1 1 1 " 1 1 1 1 1 11 11 


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sassEio aaisejjju 


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n 






61-8161 


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ZZ %%^ ° 2 2 °- ?,-"•"""'" " " 




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:HH?r: s 2" wr """ : . 


No. of Places 
Reporting 

No. of Classes 
Both 1917-18 
and 1918-19 


III 


paSueq 


™n p^ureuisy 


« 


'i ^lo O ~i :C Om/> OOO ^-^m .-. i/> .*T^^>Mf ■ 




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ipuodsay )°N 


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^S~g ££"5 22 J?^ 00 '-''" , ' 2 " 2 ""-"-- 


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8i-ii6i 'pauodoH )o\t 

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s -*o W — •«, : «- : : n ::«-:; 


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ipuodsa^j }on 


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t 


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plplllllll 












en 


««1>t UVO t-QO 0.0-^^»-t^O t~«5 O. 3 -« ri *) 



Increase 

or 

Decrease 

in 

Places 

Reporting 

Provision 

TO 

1918-19 


1«33 J3J 


S £ 


s 


s 


. .0 c 




S10 00 •< 






i .0 e> 


2 : .1 


1 


jaqratiN 


H 


M 


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61-8161 


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E IE50X 


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10 


N M M M 






M „ .„„-.„ 




- 




6 



i 
2 




JU33 J3J 


1 1 1 1 1 : : : : ":':'• 






jaquinN 


1 1 1 1 t 






S3SSBI3 3ULSE3J03a S3;,B Ed u ! l so T ' ■ ' * ^ ....!,... 




S3SSBI3 3UJSB9JDUI S9DEIJ Ul paillEQ ■ 00 ■ • . ■ • • • • • *1 M -'• --••■• 




61-8161 , » •" ' "' "x*-" : : . : . : 




8i-ii6i I "° M '• ***:.:;::.: : 


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No. of Places 
Reporting 

No. of Classes 
Both 1917-18 
and 1918-19 


JJj 


psguEqoun pauiBuiay 1 " " " l" 1 " M " ;mm««m . i-. . . . . • -mm ■ 




pasE3J03Q \ '■ " • N • " °* " "' '■ " - ::;:::: i ::.::: : 




pssB3JDui j " '■" :" : : :""" :: : ;««"« ;-;« ; ; ; ; 




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suipuodsan ?o N »« *««"»« :«™2^?"°° : ~ ""° " " ""£ Z 2 S 


[ 


n.g 


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UOISIAOJJ | NNO,NNf ''^ IN " -SBiin^MTH . -m ;"HM : , 




a. 


8i-ii6i 'pajaoday ion 1 " ; "> ; " ;. ; ;h m w ;_. • ■ ■ • • « ■ ;";■;.;.; 
6l-8i6i 'uoisiaojj 




Suipnodssa ion 1 " " " "'" W " :™ " > ° k Z nnx ' '. H 5 000 M "?*% S m n 




«~ 


uoisjaojj o'n h h ' " m - n " w "> n n "■ ■ " "> f W.tA 




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2 (1, 


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(- 




•a-vi-o r-00 cno m 


:^ :::: :6 • :::::::; : 

<2o'^E5>ci2<^za<oiyj2 





TABLE XXVII 

Public School Provision in Each State fob the Foreign 
Bobn in Places Classified by Number and Per Cent 
of Foreign Born 

See folded insert opposite 

























































■5 


3SE3J0UT 




;0 




0, 


n 


n 





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Per 
Cent 
Report- 
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vision 


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2 


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s 




5 




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s 












































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TABLE XXVII 
i] Provision in Each State for hie Foreign- Born in ?'^ rE s Classified by Number and I*er Cent of Forf.io 



ri..\cr.s ttim iai.i: :.:"> iui-ii.ai iun 



■ 



,..•■•.■ 



■ 






,s'i':.; ■ 






■ 



v 

.■: ■ 






i::r> nv I'er Cent Foreign Born 



.... 










^ ^ 






k V ^> . 



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.V ^ 






















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